The Burning Shade and the Fading Light
by hexumhunnie311
Summary: Bella and Alice are nomadic non-vegetarian vampires looking for change. When they are struck by the need to travel to Forks, Washington, they have no idea what, or who, they'll find there. AU, Cannon couples
1. Nomads

**A/N:** Ok, not only is this my first fan fiction, it also the first time I've let anyone besides teachers and professors read something I've written. So be gentle, but still critical. I'd be happy with just one review honestly, so I won't beg for them. Hopefully you are intrigued by this first chapter.

P.S. Alice has a special nickname for Bella that only she is allowed to call her…Isa, which is pronounced "eesa". Just wanted to mix things up a bit.

Disclaimer: I own nothing…but Twilight owns me. Go SMeyer.

And here we go...

* * *

**Chapter One: Nomads**

"You're eyes are blacker than I've ever seen them."

"Shut up Al."

"Ooo, aren't we testy today."

"Yeah well, yours aren't any lighter than mine. Oh, and your shoes don't match your outfit."

Alice gasped and ran to her ruck-sack. I knew that would get her off my back. I will never understand her. She's been my best friend and only companion for almost 70 years, and I still don't get why fashion matters to her. I've been wearing the same pair of jeans and the same tight-fitting blue t-shirt for weeks now, and she prances around in sundresses like she's a wood nymph. She's a nomad for Christ sakes; she gets dirty and bloody daily.

And yet whenever we near a town, she takes a chance and goes in to get a new outfit. I suppose it makes her feel almost human. She never hurts the shop owners, though they know immediately that something isn't right with her. The big sunglasses covering her blood-red eyes can't help shake the eerie feelings we give off. It amuses me that Alice gets so sad when people can't just have a nice normal chat with her. It's those times I have to remind her, _You're a VAMPIRE Al, you kill people, you can't BE normal._

_But we kill BAD people, _she'd whine.

_Killing people is killing people Al. It's who we are. It's what we do. There's no other way._

She wouldn't even try to argue after that.

At least, that's how it used to be. We haven't been near a town in ages, and she's slowly but surely running out of shoes to match her also dwindling wardrobe. We haven't fed in ages, and the burn was raging in both of our throats. Truth be told, we just didn't want to be like that anymore. After that night. After the girl. We'd never felt so human, even when we _were_ human.

I remember it was raining that night in Philadelphia. We weren't very thirsty, having just fed, but that didn't stop us prowling. That's when we saw her, all alone on a park bench, crying. She was a tiny thing, with dark hair. I couldn't see her face, but she couldn't have been any older than seven. Her wet hair clung to her face and her thoughts were frantic.

_Mommy? Where's mommy? I want to go home! Where is home?! I want my mommy!!_

It was heartbreaking, and we would have gone right by if it weren't for her damned scraped knee. Al smelled it first, the blood trickling down her leg into her sock.

Alice approached her slowly, intent to kill but in no mood to chase, giving in to her bloodlust. As soon as she grabbed her, though, the little girl turned with shocking speed and just held Alice in an unmistakeable hug. The girl wasn't scared, she wasn't even surprised. She thought Alice was her mother, come to rescue her from the dark and stormy night. I saw her little face turn up through Alice's eyes, her tears mixing with the rain on her cheeks, and if my heart had still been beating I swear it would have stopped.

She was like a clone of Alice. From her tiny pixie face to her short dark hair. Her eyes, albeit not bright red, had the same sparkle. It was how I'd always pictured Alice looking as a little girl, how she thought she may have looked before her human memories turned to nothing but blackness and only vampire remained.

"You're not my mommy," the girl moaned.

_I can't do it. I can't. What's wrong with me?_

Alice was panicked, not understanding her hesitation. How could she not? She saw herself in that little girl, beyond the uncanny resemblance. A lost girl, not knowing where she was or how to get home. Though I'd never say so, I often heard the thoughts Alice had about her time as a human. Feeling guilty that she can't even remember the people who gave her life. Hell, I remembered my parents and I still felt guilt. I was torn from them by a sadistic creature who got off on making people suffer. They'd never known what happened to me. I couldn't go near them for fear I would kill them. They'd died wondering where I was, and if I'd ever come home.

Neither of us could do that to this tiny human, or to her family.

_When did we get consciences? _Alice seemed to come to the same conclusion I had. She set the girl back on the bench and put her arms back at her sides. I could sense that the blood wasn't having the same effect on her, that she was beyond caring about it. She cared about this girl now.

"Where do you live little one?" Alice asked sweetly, smiling at the girl, but not showing teeth.

"I…I…d-don't know!" the girl wailed. Alice turned to me. _Go find her mother_. I nodded and walked toward a block of apartment buildings across from the park, tuned in to the thoughts of the occupants, searching for the frantic mother. It didn't take me very long.

…_was just here! How could she just vanish?! My god, what if she's been kidnapped!? I have to call the police…_

I waited for the call so I could hear the apartment number.

"Yes, officer, please, my daughter…she's gone! She's only seven! I don't know where she is, and it's so dark, I'm so afraid someone's taken her, the window to the fire escape is open…yes, it's number 432, apartment 3G…"

I sprinted back to Al and told her where the mother was. The girl still had not let go of Alice's hands, not even flinching at her cold skin.

_She won't let go, we'll have to take her._

I gave her a pointed look that she knew said "a vision would be helpful about now…", and she nodded. Her eyes unfocused and I saw what flashed through her head.

_The two of us, walking with the girl between us, each holding one of her hands…walking up stairs to a third floor apartment, the door opening at the sound of our knock…a young woman, panic in her eyes with a telephone to her ear, regarding two inhumanly beautiful women, one tiny with short hair, the other only a bit taller with long hair, darkened from the rain, her small daughter smiling at her from between them…Alice explaining that we happened upon the girl in the park, and she told us where she lived…our smiles unsettling to her, but also letting her know that we hadn't kidnapped the girl…her thanking us profusely, offering us a drink…_

_Looks good._ Alice gave me a half-smile that didn't brighten her face like usual as she set the girl on her feet and told her we'd take her to her mommy.

Hours later, Al and I had sat in the same park and didn't speak, though her thoughts were anything but silent. I felt like it was my place to talk first.

"Look Al…well, that was weird," I said rather lamely.

"No shit Sherlock," she snapped. It wasn't like Alice to be harsh. This had really shaken her up.

"Talk to me," I said gently.

She turned to look at me then, and sighed, her face softening.

_She was me Isa. She was ME. She was lost. She was alone. She LOOKED just like me, but miniature. And I thought of my family, even though I don't remember them. I like to think I had a mom and dad that loved me just as much, maybe even more than they loved each other. And that I had a brother and a sister, and we would play and tease each other and have fights and scrape our knees and get lost and want our mommy. And then I thought, how must they have felt when one day I was just gone? Would they have looked for me? Would they have found any clues as to what happened? Or would it just be like I was never even there? And…how could I do that to another family? To another mother? To another little lost girl with a scraped knee?_

If Alice could cry, she would have been. The dry sobs escaping her now were nothing I'd ever experienced from her before. She was happy, bubbly, eccentric, sometimes mellow, but never like this. Never…hysterical. I thought about slapping her. Then I remembered she probably wouldn't even feel it.

"Al, you don't have to defend what you did to me. I would have done the same thing. I remember my family, but I felt everything you did. It was…kinda scary," I said lamely again. Not my best night for uplifting speeches. "And don't forget, you're not alone anymore…" I put a hand on her shoulder.

She gave me a small smile, but the frown soon returned.

"Things have to change Isa. I can't do this anymore. We kill people. Yes, we kill bad people, but even they have families. And that little girl? Shit, the worst thing she's ever done is probably breaking one of mommy's vases and blaming it on the cat. And I almost took her. I don't want this feeling anymore, this guilty feeling. I don't want to be a monster."

I surprised myself by agreeing with her. I mean, we were vampires, we killed, we drank blood, what was there to change? And yet…somehow, it had to.


	2. Change

**A/N:** Wow, I actually got more than one review, and people added me to their alerts! I can't even explain my giddiness. Thanks guys!

Here's chapter two...it's a bit short but it got to a certain point and I though "Ok, this needs to be the end of the chapter", so that's how it is. Forgive me. Oh, and I don't know if this did/is going to confuse anyone, but most of last chapter was Bella remembering, as is the beginning of this, and then it picks up with the aftermath of Bella informing Alice that her shoes don't match her outfit in the present time. Just wanted to clear that up.

Also, I'm in the middle of chapter three but don't expect it for maybe a week or so, I'm in the middle of my final exams so I'm spending pretty much all my time studying even though I clearly would rather be writing about Isa and Al. C'est la vie, I suppose. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. But Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Change**

A month later, Al and I had been slowly making our way west. We'd never been any further than Chicago and decided to branch out.

_Change_. That was our mantra of sorts. If we were faced with a decision, we always went the 'road less traveled', so to speak. _Change_.

Our plan was to travel to Nevada, maybe hit up Vegas. We told each other it was because we'd never seen the lights of this particular big city before and wanted to try our hands at gambling. After all, I could read minds and she could see the future. We'd be unstoppable. But I think we both knew better. We wanted to test ourselves, be in a public setting with thousands, maybe millions of people and not give in. _Change_.

Before, in Philly, and in the other cities we travelled through, we hunted every night, down dark alleys and behind seedy night clubs, searching for the scum of the earth. We'd each usually feed on at least two, sometimes more if we were particularly thirsty.

Now, however, we avoided big cities. We'd only feed when the thirst was unbearable, which was usually between 3 and 4 weeks. We still only fed on evil people, but we'd either share one, or take only one each. Not giving in to the bloodlust was nearly impossible. But we did it, somehow. We HAD to do it. We would typically sneak into state prisons after lights out and help ourselves to the inmates on death row, saving the state a couple of bucks in the meantime. _Change_.

It was better.

It wasn't enough.

* * *

"Isa, my shoes match my outfit perfectly, and…hey, are you listening?"

I was pulled from my reminiscing by Al's high-pitched voice tinged with annoyance.

"Yeah, sorry, yeah they do match, you're right." Alice looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

_Off somewhere in space just then? What were you thinking about?_

I just shrugged and shook my head. Alice pouted, but moved on.

"So what do we do after Vegas?"

It was daytime, so we were hiding out in the woods, waiting for the cover of nightfall to keep moving. We'd both just finished swimming in the nearby river, a sorry attempt to clean ourselves of the filth we'd accumulated from trudging through the woods for ages. Our skin was sparkling in the sunlight as we lay in the grass to dry. We might have been somewhere in Wyoming, but I honestly had no idea. I hadn't seen a human, let alone a "Welcome To" sign for weeks.

"I dunno, we could go north…Canada maybe?"

"OOhhh! I've never been there! Yes, we'll do that. Let's see…" Alice squealed, then got that faraway look again as she searched our future for fun Canadian things to do. She was somewhere between watching ice hockey and shopping, of course, when her vision went black.

"Oh!" we both gasped at the same time.

_What was THAT?!_ Alice looked over at me, and I'm sure my confused expression matched hers perfectly. As we had been watching Al's vision, a sudden, completely indescribable feeling washed over us. It was almost like a…pull? It was so strong that both of our faces had turned suddenly in that direction. West.

"Um, maybe someone wants us to hurry up and get to Vegas because we're going to hit the jackpot big time. See that anywhere in our near future?" I joked with Alice, until I saw her distressed look. I searched in her mind and saw…green? Just green. Everywhere.

"Hey, that could be money!" I laughed again. Alice didn't find me so funny.

_I think my brain is broken…that's all I can see, just green, everything else is gone._

"Well, we'll just stick to our plan and see what happens when we get to Vegas, ok Al? Relax."

_Yeah, yeah, ok…_

The feeling remained with us, and although it seemed to change a bit as we neared Nevada, pulling in a slightly different direction, we continued to blow it off. The colour of Al's visions didn't change, but they did get a bit more defined. The green turned into huge trees in a deep forest, moss-covered and old. In fact, everything was moss-covered. Not just the trees, but the ground, the rocks, everything. We still had no idea what it meant, but continued for Vegas.

Once we got there, however, we couldn't take the chance. We hadn't fed in more than a month, and the close proximity to people would certainly be our downfall. Even just standing right outside the city limits was painful. We could hear heartbeats, smell blood…it was so tempting. It was _torture. _I looked to Alice.

For the first time in weeks, she had a vision that wasn't the colour of split-pea soup. And it told me all I needed to know.

_The two of us, standing in the middle of a high-class casino…hundreds of people around us, laughing and yelling…I lunged first, but Alice wasn't far behind…the two of us, in the middle of a circle of corpses, all drained of every last drop, and us with not even a hair out of place…_

So, we decided to turn north and move on to Canada. As soon as we turned and began running north, Alice's vision of green returned, but she saw nothing else.

* * *

The day we were going to cross the border…everything changed.

We had been running. There was no real reason to, it's not like we had anywhere to be, but sometimes the feeling of sprinting through the forest was freeing, which I think we both needed. That and we were currently in Idaho, which besides miles of flat fields of potatoes doesn't have a lot of interesting things to see. We were anxious to get to Canada and see something new. _Change_.

I was following Al, who was almost a mere blur, even to my more than perfect eyesight. She had decided we should run near a road because she wanted to see the "Welcome to Canada!" sign. She was almost her old self, giddy and excited as the sign came into view. Her thoughts were focused only on all of the new clothes she would get once we found a town.

Without warning, the feeling that had for so long just been something lingering in the back of my mind turned into something almost magnetic, and it surged through my body with an intense power. It was so strong that I felt as though invisible hands were pulling me. West.

It startled me so much that I didn't even see the thick tree branch that Al had pulled out of her way. It snapped back and hit me square in the chest, the force of which sent me flying 20 feet backwards into another tree, which promptly snapped and crashed down into the forest.

_Typical_, I grumbled as I pulled myself to my feet. The same thought crossed my mind that always did when I ended up on my ass in a less-than-graceful fashion. _I am definitely the only clumsy vampire on the planet. _

_Isa?!_

Al noticed I wasn't behind her anymore, but the urgency of her thoughts was confusing. I'm always falling down, and she's always making fun of me about it. Why is this time different?

Unless…

The pull was intense, it was overwhelming, it was…_Change_.

Al ran back towards me, and I saw it in her eyes without even needing to hear her thoughts.

_You felt it too._

We looked west.

We started running.

* * *

**End Note:** Apologies to any Idahoans, a lot of my family live there and my grandpa grows potatoes, and well, can you think of anything cool to see there? I didn't think so. I still love it there though.


	3. Beckoned

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews and such guys, I really REALLY appreciate it. You're all amazing and you make me smile.

In honor of me finishing one of my exams (and most definitely rocking its socks off), you get this chapter a bit earlier than I planned. It's longer than the others, and we finally catch up with Edward and see what he's been up to. Hope you like it :)

In other news, chapter 4 probably won't make it up for like a week, I have a long paper due and my last exam (EVER) this week, so I won't have much time to work on it. Never fear, after next weekend I'll have nothing to do BUT write this story for a few weeks.

Ok, this is longer than I meant for it to be. Enjoy Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter Three: Beckoned**

We ran.

And ran.

And we didn't stop, not even during the day.

The pull got stronger with every step with took, and though we had no idea where we were running to, every day brought us closer to getting there.

Alice's vision was getting clearer too, no longer the sea of green that had haunted the both of us for weeks. Now there was gray…the sky seemed to be constantly covered in clouds. And there were houses in what seemed to be a small town, though some days we could see a large white mansion that looked horribly out of place. Other days we saw what looked like a small apartment building with three floors.

_What a shitty little town, _Al thought one day after her vision had showed us the old houses and quaint shops. The lack of high-fashion boutiques had clearly not escaped her notice. _What could possibly be drawing us there?_

"Who knows Al," I answered, not slowing my pace and taking special care to watch Alice in case she let another branch fly backwards, "but we can't stop now."

And that was true, even if we had wanted to. Our feet seemed to have minds of their own, carrying us through forests, bypassing towns. Always forward. Always west.

Shortly after abandoning our path to Canada, we crossed into Washington State. I didn't think it was possible, but the second we crossed the border the pull strengthened even more, so much so that I could barely feel the thirst burning my throat to cinders. It was the longest either of us had ever gone without feeding, but we couldn't be bothered at this point.

Whatever we were running to, whatever this giant magnet was that was drawing us in, was getting closer.

After running non-stop for three days, we noticed a change in our surroundings. The forest was denser, older, and everything was…green.

Alice stopped dead in front of me, and I ran smack into her with enough force that I, again, ended up on the ground.

"Seriously Al, you gotta stop doing things like this, I'm on my ass quite enough by my own doing – "

_Isa. This is it. This is my vision. At least part of it…the green part._

And so it was. The trees were huge and old. They were covered in moss, along with the ground and the rocks. The sky was a solid sheet of gray. It was also beginning to rain. We walked a bit further and came to a road, where we saw a large wooden sign on the side.

"Welcome to Forks, Washington"

* * *

We continued up the side of the road, staying hidden in the adjacent forest, although the thick clouds were blocking the sun so we luckily didn't draw any attention to ourselves. The pull was just as strong as ever. If anything it was stronger yet again. Soon we came to an intersection, and beyond that we spotted the little town of Forks.

It was exactly as Alice had imagined it; quaint little shops and old two-storey houses. Everything was lush and green, and I finally understood why this colour had been so prevalent in Al's vision. It clearly never stopped raining here.

The both of us decided we would wait for the cover of darkness to explore any further. Well, _I _decided that our dirty, torn clothes and overall we've-been-living-in-the-forest-for-weeks-and-weeks look would gain us some unwanted attention. Plus, there would be less people out at night, less of a chance for us to slip up…

Alice wanted to wait because she had indeed finally run out of shoes to match her outfits, and she was embarrassed.

I wasn't really surprised about that.

We stayed at our vantage point in the forest for the rest of the day, hidden from view but seeing everything we could. It was the nearest we'd been to humans in so long, and the scents were mouth-watering. They went about their daily business; shopping, chatting with friends, going to work, going to school…they had no idea that two extremely blood-thirsty vampires were in their midst. We were doing our best to keep it that way.

_So thirsty…blood…the burning…oh that woman next to the mail box, she smells amazing…_

I heard Alice's thoughts and felt her shift next to me, and immediately grabbed her around the waist and tackled her to the ground.

_NO! NO! I HAVE TO GO! LET ME GO! YOU BITCH! YOU BITCH LET ME GO!_

I ignored her struggles and her thoughts and kept a firm grip for what seemed like hours. Eventually the sun began to set, and I noticed that she had stopped fighting back and just lay limp in my arms.

"I'm sorry Isa. I'm ok now, I promise."

Her thoughts told me she was being honest. Instead of hunger and anger, they were now riddled with guilt and shame. I released her and she sat up slowly.

"Don't apologise Al. I'd expect you to do the same for me if the situation called for it."

She nodded, then stood up.

"It's almost dark, and the streets are pretty much empty. I think we should keep moving now."

I stood up as well and, just in case we came across anyone, began smoothing my hair and clothes as best I could. Alice did the same. It didn't really do much, but at least we tried. I followed Alice out of the trees and onto the sidewalk. We walked as casually as possible, though we were both tense. I took the time to look around and take in my surroundings, even though I'd already seen this town over and over in Alice's head. I couldn't understand what there could possibly be here that was so important, that would have beckoned us from across the country.

"Anything new Al?" I assumed that now that we had arrived, her vision of this place would be replaced by something, anything that was helpful. She stopped walking and opened her mind.

_A large, white mansion with many large windows set deep in the forest on the banks of a river…a small brick building with three stories…a balcony on the third storey that connected two sliding glass doors, each one leading to a separate bedroom…_

"That's it? Well where the hell is that?" I was frustrated and thirsty and so sick of this stupid feeling that was cryptic and annoying, and even the future-seeing vampire was pretty much useless at this point.

"How the hell should I know? I don't TELL my mind what to see just so that I can piss you off with it!" Alice snapped. She was just as frustrated as I was. I stepped forward and hugged her to me.

"Sorry Al. I know it's not your fault. Let's just keep walking and see what we find, ok?"

She sighed and pulled away. Then she smiled. It was the biggest smile I'd seen on her in months.

_I think we should be more excited Isa. Not angry, not frustrated. This is exactly what we wanted, isn't it? CHANGE. This could change everything, our whole life. I can't wait to get there…wherever there is._

I looked at Al, and couldn't help but smile too; her personality was contagious, and besides that she was right. Why was I so angry? Oh yeah, I hadn't eaten in more than a month. But I vowed to keep a more positive attitude, and to take whatever change came for us, for Alice's sake if nothing else. I kept walking, and Al followed.

We weren't really paying attention to where we were going. I noted brick buildings we passed, looking for the apartments we were destined to find: a school, a police station, a hardware store. Our feet lead the way and we followed. It seemed like we had travelled down every street in town, and I was beginning to lose hope that we would find anything, when suddenly…

_There it is Isa._

I looked up at the apartment building I had seen in Al's visions, only now it was here in reality. We walked around the back of the building and sure enough, on the third storey, there was a balcony connecting two sliding glass doors. The lights were on and we could distinctly hear the breathing and heartbeats of two people. We quickly retreated into the trees that lined the property.

"Humans? Um…now what?" I looked at Alice. "I mean, obviously whatever we're here for is in those rooms, but we can't just – "

The breeze shifted, and blew towards us from the building…

Suddenly I was on the ground, two iron bars were wrapped around my waist, and sounds of snarling and growling were filling the air around me. It took me a few moments to realize those bars were Alice's arms, and that those sounds were coming from me. I froze as the memory of the breeze came back to me, and the smell, the most mouth-watering aroma I'd ever smelled in my life...

_ISA?! What happened?!_

I struggled to sit up, but Alice wasn't letting go.

"I'm fine, I'm fine just…Al, didn't you smell it? The scent coming from that room on the right? It was amazing, like mint and cinnamon and…didn't…didn't you smell it?"

"I didn't Isa, but I did see the lust in your eyes when you practically launched yourself at that door…you've always had better control than me…it must have been pretty intense…"

"It was. Thanks, Al. Thanks for…stopping me."

She smirked.

_You said it yourself, I'd do the same thing for you when the situation called for it. Apparently you're the one who can predict the future now._

I didn't say anything. The scent was still wafting to me, searing my throat like a thousand hot knives. And yet I was already becoming slightly accustomed to it, and I felt myself come back into control. I didn't understand this. Humans? We were drawn here for _humans? _I wanted to run, but I had made a vow, and I intended to keep it.I looked at Alice, and saw her eyes flick to the other door, on the left.

"I'm going up there Alice, after the lights are out. It's where I'm being pulled to."

She gave me a death stare.

"I'm in control Alice, I promise I can handle it. And I think _you_," I pointed to the left door, "should go to that one. I know it's pulling you there too. We'll be quiet and no one will see us." As soon as the words left my mouth, both lights flicked off in the apartment.

She was unsure, I could tell. No visions were coming to tell her whether or not this was a bad idea.

_This is risky Isa, what if we can't resist? We've come so far, I don't want to lose it now…_

"We'll be right next to each other on that balcony Al, and we're only going to take a peek. I KNOW I can hold back, and as soon as we've looked we'll find someone to feed on, just one. I think it's necessary if we're going to be near humans and…if _I'm _going to be near this scent…" The venom pooled in my mouth before I could even finish the sentence. I swallowed it, ran back into the trees until the scent wasn't overpowering, and took a deep breath, planning to hold it until I was away from that balcony once more. I walked back to Alice and motioned that she should do the same.

We listened, waiting for the heartbeats to slow, the breathing to become deep, signalling the slumber of the occupants.

Finally, it came, and Alice and I scaled the building to the balcony, ready to face our destinies.

* * *

**EPOV**

"Edward, I think you should live on campus. You've been talking about college forever, and I hate that I'm taking that away from you. Look, I can get a job and pay the rent myself and – "

"Jazz, shut up, ok? I'm fine with this. I'm _happy_ with this. Trust me. College wouldn't be college if you weren't around anyway."

Fucking Jasper, I swear I'll punch him in the head if he brings this up one more time. The kid usually oozes a calmness that is contagious to anyone near him, but for the last 4 weeks, ever since we found out he couldn't live on campus and I made the decision to get an apartment with him, it's like he's in a constant state of pain and guilt.

I mean, why did he think I'd ditch him like that? Well, truth be told, I did know why. The kid had a phobia about being ditched, ever since his parents left him at a group home in Phoenix when he was six. Seriously, _six_. Who leaves their six-year-old on a doorstep? He'd never gotten an explanation from either of them, and didn't make any friends or bond with anyone at the group home. That is, until I showed up two years later, when we were both at the ripe age of 8.

I can still remember the day we met. His roommate had been moved to a different home, though that made no difference to Jasper. In his mind, people would leave him his whole life, so why should that boy be any different? I was given the empty bed. I had walked in and thrown my suitcase on the floor, then sat down and stared out the window for three full hours. Three hours, and he didn't say a word. Finally, he broke the silence.

"Your hair is a funny colour."

And we've been friends ever since.

We'd talked for the rest of the night, skipping dinner and worrying the "house mother", as we liked to call her. She came in to check on us, her frizzy gray hair and careworn face peaking through the door, and was completely shocked that Jasper was speaking to another human being. The most he'd said since he arrived was "yes", "no" or "leave me alone". It would be an understatement to say that she was ecstatic. She promptly brought us dinner on trays, quietly saying "don't let me interrupt" as she placed the food in front of us and left the room.

"So why are you here?" he'd asked through a mouthful of mashed potato.

"My parents died. Some weird flu. I got it too but got over it. They didn't." I said simply. "What about you?"

"Same. Dead parents."

We spent the rest of the night getting to know each other. The remainder of our ten years at the home were spent attached at the hip. One never went anywhere without the other. It wasn't until Jasper's 16th birthday that I actually found out the truth about his parents, and finally understood his aversion to making friends.

That day, he had been sitting on his bed, eagerly flipping through the gift I had gotten him, and book about the history of the Civil War, which he was obsessed with. House Mom knocked gently on the door and walked in carrying a blue envelope.

"Hello Edward. Jasper, happy birthday sweetie. Some mail came for you." She smiled and handed him the envelope. "We got you a cake, if you'd like a piece, it's in the kitchen." She smiled again and left. That was what we liked about House Mom. She never hovered.

"Who's it from Jazz?" I was intrigued. Jazz never got mail. Neither of us did. It's not unusual when you don't have any family.

"I dunno, there's no return address." He ripped the envelope open and pulled out a colourful birthday card. He looked confused, then opened it and read the inside. I could see the exact moment that he reached the signature, because his eyes bugged out of his head and his face turned a deep shade of red. Suddenly, there were tears in his eyes.

"Jazz, what's up? Who is it –"

He thrust the card under my nose, where I clearly read, under the generic message that came with the card,

"Happy 16th Birthday Darling, Love Mom and Dad"

"Mom and…but I thought your parents were dead?"

Jasper pulled the card back, angrily wiped the tears from his cheeks, and proceeded to tear it to shreds.

"They are," he spat. "To me."

He told me what had really happened. And he never heard from them again after that.

Two years later, we were finally 18 and accepted into the University of Washington. Unfortunately Jasper, being the sometimes-way-too-laid-back-guy that he is, didn't get his on-campus housing paperwork in on time, and wasn't offered a place. I knew he couldn't afford to live off, so I attempted to pull some strings. Turns out my parents, on top of leaving me a pretty hefty inheritance, had also donated a wing of the U of W's library, having both been alumni of the school. The administration told me that 'we'd love to help you, Mr. Masen, but unfortunately there are simply no more rooms left on the campus'. I had promptly declined my dorm assignment and began apartment hunting for Jasper and me. Irritatingly enough, not only were there no room on campus, there were no rooms in the whole of Seattle. Not one apartment listing was available.

Desperate, I branched out my search, and landed on the little town of Forks, Washington. It was a reasonable commute if we arranged our class schedules well, and gave me even more opportunities to drive my beloved Volvo. The rent was affordable, the town was…well it was near Seattle, and that was all that mattered at that point. I called the landlord, who emailed me some pictures of the place, and two days later I was paying the security deposit. This was in May, just before our graduation from high school.

And, three months later, here were are, moving in and getting ready for our first year of college.

"Edward, I think I'll get a job anyway, I mean I can't expect you to pay for everything on your own…"

There he goes again.

"Ok Jazz, I'll make you a deal. I'll take care of the rent, and everything else until you can find a part-time job that doesn't interfere with school AT ALL. And when you get a job, you can help pay for utilities, a maybe put a tank of gas in the Volvo every once in a while. How does that sound?"

Jasper smiled a bit sheepishly.

"I'll take what I can get."

The apartment was a little small, but really quite nice. It had a pretty spacious kitchen, was fully furnished, and we each had our own room with a balcony connecting them. This actually sealed the deal on this place for me. Jasper and I had shared a room for 10 years and had never spent a night apart, and it was somewhat of a comfort to still have the connection there.

Around 9pm on the day we moved in, we had both retired to our rooms to unpack a bit more. I knew I wouldn't get much done because of how tired I was from moving in all day, so I just unpacked my box of many books and lined the shelves with them. I then put sheets on my bed, pulled on a pair of pyjama pants, turned out the light, climbed into bed and immediately passed out.

_Thousands of hands, pulling me and pushing me, dragging me across a floor….swirling colours of brown and red, making a fuzzy image that never quite comes into focus…two bright, blood-red eyes staring at me, drawing me in…_

I woke up, drenched in sweat and heart beating out of my chest, to find myself standing in front of the door that opens onto my balcony, my back to the door. I wasn't really sure how I got there. I was dazed and my eyes weren't quite focused. The dream…had it been a dream? It had been so intense, and here I was out of my bed, my body covered with a tingly feeling like those hands were still there. I began rubbing my arms, willing the feeling to go away. Finally I calmed down and my eyes focused, and I turned and looked out through the glass door.

A pair of dark, crimson eyes looked back at me.


	4. Mates

**A/N**: I'M DONE WITH EXAMS FOREVER!!! Yes, this is exciting news and you ALL had to be made aware of it. And so I bring you chapter 4 as a celebration of my freedom for the next 5 weeks. A few notes before we push ahead:

Some people have asked me what "Isa" means. Well it doesn't mean anything really, it's just another way to shorten Isabella…I just wanted to do something besides Bella, even though other characters will be calling her that. It just seemed like a very "Alice" thing to do to come up with her own nickname for someone and then copyright that shit. Crazy pixie.

Others have asked about the disease I have that I mention in my profile. No it's not lupus, it's called Raynaud's disease and it SUCKS ASS. I believe that lupus is associated with Raynaud's phenomenon, which is different and sucks even more, so I'm counting my blessings on that one. What I have is nothing life threatening, just annoying and causes me numbness followed by pain if I'm too cold.

Ok, enough of my lame sob-story, and on to Isa and Alice's!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Mates**

**BPOV**

As Alice and I climbed to the balcony, I couldn't help but feel excited. She was right, this moment could completely change our lives. _For the better, I hope, _I thought nervously, glad that Al couldn't read _my_ mind.

And too soon, that moment arrived. I found myself standing in front of the door, peering into the darkened room that I could see clearly. There were boxes everywhere. It seemed that only one had been unpacked – books, lots of them and many worn almost to tatters, lined a bookshelf next to the bed where someone lay sleeping.

It was a boy, thought I couldn't see his face from my angle, and by the look of it he was sleeping rather fitfully. He kept thrashing back and forth, and his sheets were tangled tightly around his legs. I looked into his mind to see what he was dreaming about, and found…

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

I focused on nothing but this boy's mind, desperate to hear something, anything at all. This had never happened to me before, and the silence made me uncomfortable.

Suddenly, he was standing. I nearly ran off for fear he would see me, but I then noticed his eyes were still closed, his breathing still laboured, and I saw his eyeballs darting around behind the lids…

_He's still dreaming, and now sleepwalking…_

It was then that I noticed the rest of his face.

He was absolutely the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. And that's saying a lot. I am a vampire after all.

His mop of hair was in disarray around his head…and such a strange colour, almost like copper. His tall figure was muscular and defined, and I mentally thanked whoever could hear me that he slept with no shirt on so I could see all of it. His face, his perfectly smooth face with his narrow nose and full lips, was contorted in a look of confusion and fear. He turned to face towards his room, showing me his even more muscular back that was glistening with sweat.

I was so wrapped up in looking him over that I almost didn't notice his heartbeat quicken and his breathing become shallow.

He was awake.

He was awake, and I was standing on his balcony in full view through his glass door. And yet I couldn't make myself move.

I stood glued to the spot and watched him begin to rub his arms. It looked like he was trying to wipe something off of him, but what? I concentrated on his mind once more, determined to hear something, to find some clue as to what his dream was about, why he was rubbing his arms. I had the strangest urge to comfort him…

I made a mistake. I didn't pay attention.

And suddenly, I was staring into the most startlingly green eyes I'd ever seen. The sight sent an electric current through my body that nearly started my long-dead heart. The pull vanished as soon as my eyes met his. I wanted to reach out and touch his face, run my fingers through his curious hair, stare into those green eyes forever…

All of this went through my mind in less than a second, but I then heard him gasp and saw him take a step back, and I knew I'd lingered for too long. With one last glance into his eyes, into the depths of this soul, I leapt from the balcony and took off running into the forest, ignoring the immediate feeling of loneliness that came with me.

* * *

**EPOV**

Red eyes, so dark they were almost black.

I should have been frightened, but instead I was just startled to be so quickly confronted with a colour from my dream. I gasped and stepped back, attempting to see the owner of these eyes, but I blinked and they were gone.

"EDWARD!"

Jasper called from the next room, his voice sounding as confused as I felt. I knew I should go to his room and tell him what happened, and to ask if maybe he'd seen those eyes too, but I couldn't move. What if whoever it was came back? I couldn't leave, I couldn't miss it. Such a strange feeling was coursing through me, an almost electric current that began when I saw those eyes. Now that they were gone it was mingled with an overwhelming feeling of loneliness.

Jasper finally came through my door, his blonde curls frizzed and all over the place like he'd been thrashing around in his sleep. I ran my hands through my own hair and thought that it must look the same. Did that mean that Jasper –

"Dude, what the fuck? I just had the freakiest dream and then I woke up standing in front of my balcony door and…get this man…someone was _out there_, staring at me with the creepiest eyes I've ever seen, and then I blinked and they were…dude? You ok? You look like someone kicked your puppy."

I ignored Jasper's questions and his allusion to the sadness on my face and walked to the balcony, slid the door open, and stepped out. I searched the floor for footprints, then looked over the edge, into the trees, everywhere. Besides noticing that there was absolutely nothing to climb up to get to our balcony, I didn't see anything. Could it have just been an animal? But even then, how would an animal have gotten up here? And besides that, I knew somewhere deep down that it was not an animal, that it couldn't be. I wouldn't miss the eyes so much if that were true…

"See anything?" Jasper asked from the room behind me. He came outside and stood next to me, looking in all the same places I had and also coming up empty. I shook my head. He turned around to lean against the railing and crossed his arms, looking uncomfortable.

"You saw them too, didn't you." It wasn't a question. "And had the dream as well."

I nodded. "I think that means there were two of them."

"We should be freaked out, shouldn't we? I mean, two people with creepy-ass eyes are on our balcony, with no visible means of getting there, and we're surprisingly calm. In fact, I don't know about you but…well this is going to sound weird but I…kind of…miss them? What the hell is wrong with me?

"Nothing Jazz…well probably lots of things," I elbowed him in the ribs, "but this isn't one of them. I feel the same way."

"Maybe we should just go back to sleep…tomorrow's Sunday so at least we have all day to freak ourselves out about it before classes start on Monday," he joked, though it was probably exactly what would happen. I sighed, and relented.

After Jasper had gone back inside and to his room, I slid the sliding door shut, locked it, and climbed back into bed.

Thirty seconds later, I got up and unlocked it…just in case.

* * *

**BPOV**

In an extremely lucky twist to my frankly bizarre night, while I was running away from that boy as fast as my legs would carry me, I stumbled across the lewd and disgusting thoughts of two men wandering in the woods. Lord only knows what they were doing there, but they _were_ completely drunk and talking about a young woman they had just…yuck, I can't even think about it. I am fully aware that I am a monster, but somehow what I do just doesn't compare to what these men have done.

They were exactly what I had been looking for.

I approached them from the side, not even trying to hide or keep quiet. Knowing their current state and their, shall we say 'attraction' to women, my immortal beauty would lure them in without the need for stealth. They were both rather tall, one with blonde hair that was spiked up, the other in a baseball cap. Their clothes were dirty and torn, and after seeing them stumble about I knew they must have taken more than one fall tonight. As I approached they looked up at me, then looked me up and down. In the darkness they couldn't see the unnatural colour of my eyes, and weren't even slightly cautious. One of them spoke to me, slurring his words.

"Hey there pretty lady, you shouldn' be out here all 'lone, sssomethin' could happen to you – "

The thoughts of what he and his partner had planned could not even form in their minds before I lunged.

I managed to knock the other man unconscious before I took the speaker for myself, completely ravenous and too eager to soothe the inferno in my throat. Not a drop was spared. After I had finished, I dug a deep hole and threw his body in, hoping no one would ever find him and more than that, that no one would ever miss him. He didn't deserve that.

I hoped Alice would soon have a vision of this happening and come to find me so she could have the unconscious man. It took much quicker than I thought. Alice stepped through the trees not 10 seconds later.

"I was following your scent. I turned to see you jump off the balcony but when I turned back to the door there was a boy looking at me and…oh Isa, he was beautiful and blonde and he had curly hair that I wanted to run my fingers through…but I freaked out and took off after you. So here I am. Lucky you found these guys."

I didn't say a word as Alice rambled on about the blonde boy in the next room and how she just couldn't stop staring at him, not even when he began sleepwalking or when he woke up and began rubbing his arms. I continued my silence while she drained the other man in the same ravenous way I did, and when she threw the man's body on top of his partner's and we filled in the hole, leaving no evidence of one ever having been there.

Afterwards, we sat on the ground facing each other and continuing to not say a word. Suddenly Alice's eyes glazed over.

_A large white mansion on a riverbank…inside a spacious living room, four figures whose faces could not be seen, except for their eyes…eyes the colour of liquid gold…_

Then the vision changed…

_Alice and I, standing outside of the house…each of us holding the hand of another person, too blurry to see…staring deeply into their eyes, smiles on our faces…mine and Alice's eyes were no longer red, but golden…_

The vision ended. Alice focused her eyes back on mine, a look of pure shock on her face.

I decided to comment on the first part, since the second confused me even more.

"Who were those four people in the house, do you think? They had such strangely coloured eyes."

"I have no idea. But I think we should go look for them. I've seen that house a bunch of times now so obviously it's significant. I just don't really know if I want to leave here yet…"

She looked wistfully back in the direction of the apartment we had just fled, and I knew exactly how she felt. We'd only been gone a short time and already there was a void in my chest that I'd never felt before, and I had an overwhelming desire to return to that balcony and watch the sleeping boy all night.

I turned to Alice to speak but noticed her eyes were looking somewhere far away again. I watched with her…

_Me, standing next to a tall man with messy copper-coloured hair, perfect features, and red eyes, though mine were amber...golden-eyed Alice, standing with another tall man, this one with blonde curls and the same red eyes…all four of us looking so happy…_

_ISA!_

Alice was frantic and giddy over this vision. I was shocked and confused. These men…well the man with me was the same human I had seen just an hour ago, but in the vision he was a newborn vampire. I didn't have to ask to know the blonde man was who Alice had seen in the other bedroom.

_Isa, don't you get it?_

I was too stunned to answer. I simply shook my head.

"Isa! They're our mates! We're meant to be with them! That's why we're here, to find them. They're the other halves of our souls."

Mates. _Mates_. _Humans_. I knew she was right, I _felt_ that she was right. But I wouldn't let that vision come true. I couldn't change that perfect being into what I was – a murderer. And yet, I'd been alone, besides Alice, for so long, and a companion in the true sense of the word would be…

I shook myself out if it.

"This is insane Alice, they're humans, we shouldn't be anywhere near them. Let's go find this house."

I stood, wiped the dirt from my clothes, and began to walk. Alice pouted, and opened her mouth to protest, but I shot her a death stare and she stopped, even keeping her thoughts to herself. I knew she'd force me to talk about this more later, but for now she stood and reluctantly followed.

Just like our search for the apartment, we followed our feet. We didn't know where we were going, but they sure seemed to.

_Do you think they're other vampires? I don't understand their eyes, but they certainly weren't human…_

Alice's thoughts matched mine completely. I just shook my head, not knowing how to answer. We eventually found a river and began to follow it. The trees were growing thicker and older, and I had no idea why anyone would live this far away from the town. I was wondering if we were going in the wrong direction when the trees began to thin, and suddenly we were standing in the back yard of an enormous house.

We stopped, not quite knowing what to do now. Alice wasn't seeing anything new, so I focused my attention inside the house, listening to any thoughts I could hear.

_Ugh, if he doesn't stop playing that stupid video game for five seconds and pay attention to me, I swear I'll hold out on him for a month…_

_Come on, come on, just die already, I already blew your head off…uh oh, she's giving me that look again…maybe I should turn it off…after this level…_

_Hmm…I wonder if I should plant lilacs…they're so beautiful, but I don't know if they could stand this weather…_

_That smell is unfamiliar, I think someone is in the back yard…_

I froze at that last thought, tempted to grab Alice and flee back into the woods, but I found that I didn't feel the need. We weren't being threatened in any way, and we weren't exactly _doing_ anything threatening. Maybe we should just go knock on the door and see what happens.

_Earth to Isa?! Care to tell me what's going on in there?_

"They're just doing normal things, but one of them can smell us. They must be vampires then. Well, they already know we're here, so let's just go up there and talk to them."

Alice stared at me, concerned, but then nodded once, squared her shoulders, and marched across the grass. I followed quickly. She stopped in front of the back door and raised her hand to knock, when suddenly the door swung open and we were met with a handsome, pale-faced, blonde-haired man with amber eyes.

"Hello. I'm Carlisle Cullen. How can I help you?"

* * *

**End Note:** Gah, I'm sorry if this is crap, I had a ridiculously hard time writing it. I think my "good writing" quota needs to be recharged after all the papers and exams I've been cranking out the last few weeks. Be gentle if you review. Next chapter should be up in a few days.


	5. Meetings

**A/N**: Two updates in one week! Yay for having more time on my hands. I'll be aiming for one a week from now on.

Ok, I promised myself that I wouldn't ever beg for reviews, but I'm caving, don't hate me. They make me so happy! So please, if you read it and you like it, review review review!

That's all, short and sweet. On to chapter 5, the much-anticipated meeting with the Cullens!

P.S. Just got back from seeing Transformers 2. I thought it was pretty kick-ass, and Bumblebee is pretty much the coolest robot ever.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Meetings**

**BPOV**

_Red eyes…_

That was this man's – vampire's – first thought when he saw us. His face was so kind and welcoming, even though he had no idea who we were and, I had a feeling, we lead very different lives even if we were all vampires.

_Strange…they look quite lost…not like the usual nomads that happen upon us…_

Alice was the first to find her voice.

"Um…"

Sort of.

She quickly recovered.

"We um…hi. I'm Alice and this is Isa. Well, Bella. Only I call her Isa. It's just a nickname. Her _actual_ name is Isabella, but trust me you don't want to call her – "

I elbowed her hard in the ribs to stop her from babbling on like a fool. She pouted. I cleared my throat and held out my hand.

"Hello, Carlisle. I'm Bella. We're sorry to disturb you and we definitely mean you no harm but…um, we have a strange story to tell you."

I seriously expected him to think we were just nuts and slam the door in our faces, but he smiled, opened the door wider, and stepped aside.

"It's very nice to meet you both. Please come inside and share your story with us."

Al looked at me, shocked, but I nodded, and we stepped inside. I immediately felt, rather than heard, mutinous thoughts coming from another room in front of us as we stepped into a spacious and bright area. There was a fancy and clearly expensive computer on a desk to our right, and the wall beside us was made entirely of glass. To the left was a spotless kitchen that clearly had never been used.

Carlisle closed the door behind us as a woman came into the room. She was beautiful in an elegant way, with honey-blonde hair and a soft smile. Her thoughts were cautious, but gentle.

_They look like they've had it rough. I hope Carlisle knows what he's doing…though they do look rather frightened, perhaps they're just lost…poor girls…_

She approached us, her smile never faltering and, after flashing a quick look to Carlisle that said _do you think it's safe?,_ she raised her hand and offered it to both of us.

"Bella, Alice, this is my wife Esme." Carlisle said. We both shook her hand lightly.

"It's very nice to meet you girls. Welcome to our home," Esme said sweetly.

The mutinous thoughts from the other room became more pronounced and, even though I couldn't see the owner of them, I knew it was a female.

_What the HELL does he think he's doing? Letting NOMADS into this house? They could ruin everything! This is insane, they have to leave now, I am not moving AGAIN just for two stupid bitches who lost their way…_

I couldn't help but snicker a bit. Carlisle and Esme both looked at me curiously, and Al gave me a wide-eyed stare.

_Is this really the time for eavesdropping?!_

I figured now was as good a time as any to be honest. I wanted to make a good impression. I needed these vampires to trust us. I knew they held the key to the change we so desperately sought. I gave Al a reassuring smile before I explained.

"I don't mean to be rude Carlisle, Esme, but I believe someone in the next room is not at all happy that we're in your home. In fact, she thinks you're insane for letting us in."

"EXCUSE ME?!" I heard the female screech from the next room while Carlisle and his wife gaped at me.

"Babe? Babe what's wrong?" a deep male voice boomed from out of sight as a tall, blonde, female vampire with those same amber eyes stomped into room we stood in. She was stunning, without a doubt the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She easily put Alice and me to shame. She was also wild with fury, which if anything just added to her beauty.

A rather large male quickly followed her. Not rather large. Rather large is what you call Arnie in the Terminator movies. This male was _huge. Enormous._ _Terrifying. _

And yet when he saw us, he got a twinkle in his eye and a goofy grin on his face.

_Finally something interesting is happening! Hmmm, they look like fun, maybe they'll stick around…come on Carlisle, say we can keep them…_

I smirked at this bear of a man thinking of us as pets. It was rather endearing, and I could tell he wasn't as hostile as his bulging muscles suggested. In fact, he sort of reminded me of a giant teddy bear.

Carlisle sighed. "Rosalie, Emmett, this is Bella and Alice."

"What did you just say? What did you say about me?" the blonde, Rosalie, demanded. _What, can she read my mind or something?_

"Yes, I can read your mind. And I'm sorry if I offended you, and for eavesdropping. It's not exactly something I can turn off." I said quietly and sincerely. Truth be told, I was very intimidated by everyone in the room, but this woman straight-up terrified me. I knew that Al and I would make no progress with Carlisle accepting us if she was not on our side.

The four vampires looked stunned.

_Fascinating…so much more powerful than Aro…_

That was Carlisle. I wondered who this Aro was, and how I was more powerful than him, but knew I'd have to save my questions for later.

_What a burden that must be, invading the privacy of those around you and not being able to control it…_

The caring thoughts of Esme.

_Oh that's just great, well hopefully she can see this…_

The acidic tones of Rosalie subsided to show me the rather rude hand gesture she was thinking of in her head.

_Awesome! Oh, she is SO on my team next time Carlisle makes me play chess with him…_

The ever-innocent thoughts of the huge male, Emmett, brought a smirk back to my face, and I winked at him. He smiled broadly back at me.

_Should I tell them about me Isa?_

I turned to Alice and nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. "Prove it, too," I told her.

She looked over the four vampires who were staring at us like we had three heads a piece. Then she took a deep breath and let her eyes gaze into a faraway place.

"What is she – " Rosalie began, but I cut her off.

"You'll see. Just wait." I shared Alice's vision with her.

_A delivery man knocking on the front door of the mansion, holding a large brown box…Rosalie answering the door, smiling at the man…signing for the package and closing the door…the man stunned by her beauty, stumbling down the steps and back to his truck in a daze…Rosalie rushing excitedly to a large garage off to the side of the house, ripping open the box, revealing a brand-new car stereo system…her smile fading, her face turning angry after reading a notice in the box that stated the sub-woofer was on back-order…_

Al turned to the angry blonde.

"Your car stereo will be arriving on Tuesday, but the sub-woofer will be back-ordered for at least another month."

Rosalie's expression went from one of anger to one of excitement, back to anger, and finally shock.

Emmett broke the silence that ensued with a booming laugh.

"Wait, wait, so _you_," he pointed to me, "can read people's minds and _you,_" he pointed to Al, "can see the future? Dream team. Ok, you're _both_ on my team for chess, and every other game I play…ever."

I found it extremely hard to remain tense around Emmett, and found myself laughing almost as loud as he had. Alice's bell-like giggle joined mine, and soon we were all laughing hysterically. Except for Rosalie, of course.

"No, Emmett, they won't be, because they're leaving _now_," she spat. The laughter quickly died.

"Rose, our guests have given us no reason to be inhospitable, and I personally would like to hear their tale. I've been told it is rather strange." Carlisle shot Rosalie daggers. She huffed, but fell silent. It was quite obvious who the leader of this strange coven was. He continued.

"Please ladies, join us in the living room and tell us your story and why you have come here. I feel as though you didn't stumble upon us by accident."

* * *

It took us more than an hour to tell them everything, what with all the interruptions, even leaving out the part about those human boys. Alice and I just weren't ready to share that yet, though I knew that eventually, if we gained his trust, I would talk to Carlisle about it.

Their interruptions served to tell us more about their personalities.

Carlisle, always desiring knowledge: "A 'pull'? Can you explain it? How did it feel exactly?"

Esme, caring for everyone, even strangers: "Oh you can't remember _anything_ about your human life? Not even how or when you were changed, or your family? You poor dear."

Emmett, always finding something to laugh at: "Hahahaha, how often do you fall down? How can you be a clutzy vampire?"

Rosalie…well she just hates us: "Yeah, that's great and all, boo-hoo. But why the hell are you _here_?"

_They think we're crazy Isa. Maybe we should just go…_

We'd finished our story, right up to finding ourselves in the back yard, and even including the two men we'd killed in the forest beforehand. They'd all grimaced during that part, and Rosalie grew impossibly more furious and shot a pointed look to Carlisle. I didn't understand her reaction, but it wasn't our time for questions yet. It was theirs.

Only, they weren't asking any.

The room had been silent for nearly a full five minutes since we'd stopped talking. Al clearly couldn't stand it anymore and just blurted out the question that had been lingering in her mind since we walked through the door.

"Why do you all have gold eyes?"

Carlisle smiled at her. "Ah, I was wondering when your curiosity would get the better of you. You see, we have chosen a different type of lifestyle compared to many others of our kind…such as yourselves. We do not kill humans, we feed on animal blood."

Both mine and Alice's jaws literally dropped.

"You can do that?" we asked at the same time.

"Blood is blood, no matter the source. We consider ourselves to be 'vegetarian vampires'. The lifestyle is preferable to the four of us, though I admit our choice of sustenance is not exactly satisfying. Much like a human vegetarian cannot live on tofu alone, the burn in our throats is never fully extinguished by animal blood. But we have learned to adjust, and live with this, and refuse to have it any other way," Carlisle explained wisely.

_How did we never think of this Isa? It's so simple…_

I was silent for a few minutes, just contemplating. Animal blood? The thought honestly disgusted me a bit. How could that possibly be appetizing? I looked at Al, and she was watching me with wide, sparkling eyes. She wanted this. She wanted to stay with these…'vegetarians', and be one of them. She wanted her vision to come true…_the two of us with liquid-gold eyes._

I smiled, and nodded at her. I would do this for her. I would _try_ to do this for her. But we couldn't just ask to stay, though I was sure at least three of them may be willing to accept us, if only for a 'trial-run' or something. That bitchy blonde, however, was a whole different story.

_I can't believe he's just telling them everything and not even consulting us first. Some family this is, more like a dictatorship. He KNOWS why they can't stay around here, it's way too dangerous, everything we've worked so hard to…shit, I forgot that one can hear me…_

Rosalie glared at me before clearing her throat.

"Look, it's nice and all that you want to change things for yourselves, but I fail to see how we can help any more than with what Carlisle just told you. So run along, find your own house, hunt some animals, and leave us alone," she snarled.

"Rose!" Esme scolded.

"What? Come on Carlisle, have some sense! You know damn well that even their presence here is enough to mess up everything! Billy and Sam won't hesitate to – "

"Aw come on babe, you're exaggerating and being way too paranoid. Besides, we both know how hard it is to stick to this diet at first if no one is around to help you maintain control," Emmett said soothingly. I was beginning to like him more and more. He turned to Carlisle.

"Come on Carlisle, can we keep them?"

Alice and I both busted out laughing, quickly joined by Carlisle and Esme. Even Rosalie was having a hard time keeping a straight face, though I knew that was only because of Emmett's antics, and not because of a change of heart towards us.

Carlisle's laughter died down and he turned towards me.

_I want very much to trust you, but you must understand that it has been difficult for us to maintain a permanent residence in the past. We are quite happy here, and have been for a few years now, and have only managed to stay here because of some agreements we've made with our…'neighbours' I suppose we'd call them…_

My heart sank, and I was sure that we'd never be able to stay here. I smiled sadly and nodded, standing.

"I understand Carlisle, and we're sorry for barging in. We won't bother you again."

Alice stood, looking at me frantically.

"What do you mean? Stop having mental conversations I can't hear! Why are we leaving??"

"Well Al, it seems us being here would complicate a lot of things and – "

"No! No, no Bella. Well, it may, but that's not what I meant at all. Forgive me, Alice, for leaving you in the dark. I was only telling Bella that we are able to remain here because of certain agreements we've made and we are quite desperate to keep things how they are."

Alice's face fell.

"_However_, I get quite trustworthy feelings from the both of you, and well, as long as my family here agrees, I would very much like you girls to remain with us for…for a time. We'll see how things go."

Esme nodded and smiled gently at us. Emmett 'whooped' and smacked us both on the back, sending me to my knees, of course. He laughed heartily and set me back on my feet. Rosalie fumed, glared, and I think I even heard her growl a little, but she said nothing. Out loud, at least.

_We'll just see how long they last…_

"Wonderful! It's settled then, girls, we have plenty of room so make yourselves at home, and tomorrow evening we'll accompany you on your first hunt. Like I said, it will take some getting used to but we're here to help. And, I must say, I admire the both of you. None of us has ever had human blood – "

Emmett cleared his throat.

" – except that one time that Emmett had an…incident, but I don't know if even I could make the switch after living off of humans for so long. It will be a long and difficult road, but I believe in you."

He smiled in a fatherly way. We couldn't help but smile back, though I also couldn't help thinking, _what the hell have we gotten ourselves in to?_ This thought was only exacerbated after Carlisle's next comment.

"Now, we should probably tell you about the wolves."

* * *

**End Note: **Yes, I know they were accepted by the Cullens pretty quickly, but trust me, there is angst and hard times on the way. Nothing is that easy.


	6. Lucky

**A/N**: Shit guys, your reviews make me squee more than photos of shirtless Rob in Italy.

I know things have been moving rather slowly, but I write the way books I enjoy are written. Slow but still interesting (I hope!) in the beginning, then some exciting parts and the climax. I'm sorry if you guys hate that I'm writing this way, I know the majority of fanfics I've read haven't been like this. I'm hoping the excitement I included in this chapter makes up for it. It's still going to be a little while before the girls and the guys actually talk, but maybe this will tide you over until then.

Also, for those who asked, yes you will eventually get the back story of Alice and Bella's friendship, and also the back story of how all the Cullen's came together (though that will be pretty identical to the book I'll admit, but the timing is a bit different).

Just a caution, in case you don't like profanity, the boys curse up a bit of a storm in this chapter. What can I say? Boys get pissy when they don't sleep well because crazy red-eyed vampire girls stalk them.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Lucky**

**BPOV**

"I'm sorry…the wolves? Is wolf blood bad or something?" Alice asked, wondering if this had something to do with the new hunting habits we were about to attempt.

_Yes, wolf blood is foul and disgusting and…_

Rosalie's thoughts were drowned out by Carlisle's chuckle.

"I'm not speaking of wolves we hunt. I'm speaking of the wolves that we have the agreement with…um, perhaps I should start from the beginning."

Al and I leaned forward eagerly for Carlisle's tale.

"I first came to forks with Esme about 80 years ago. We had been moving from city to city for quite a while and had a strong desire to settle in a place where we could easily blend in with the humans. The secluded nature of this house and the nearly perpetual overcast skies of this town made them perfect for our needs. We quickly settled and were quite content, and I managed to procure a job at the local hospital so I could continue to do what I love to do – "

"You're a _doctor_?!" I gasped. How could he stand being around humans and heartbeats and _blood_ constantly?

"Yes, I am. I have managed to control my thirst for many, many years now, and am at a point where human blood has nearly no draw for me whatsoever. It is very fortunate, because helping humans is truly a satisfying occupation."

Al and I simply gaped at him.

_We could never have that kind of control Isa. I'm almost jealous of him. I AM jealous of him. _

I nodded as Carlisle continued his story.

"Soon after our arrival, Esme and I were hunting when we sensed more than one person approaching. Their scent was like nothing I'd ever smelled before, almost earthy and musky, and frankly quite unpleasant. As they came into view we saw that they were Native American, and very, very angry. I held my hands up in surrender to assure them we were not hostile. The elder spoke to me…"

As Carlisle spoke, I watched the memory unfold in his mind.

_A tall, dark-skinned man wearing traditional Native American dress stood in front of seven other men, dressed the same apart from a large headdress of feathers that the elder wore._

'_How dare you trespass on these lands. You will leave immediately, or we will tear you limb from limb,' he snarled. _

_Carlisle informed him that they meant no harm, and were simply having a walk on a fine day. _

'_Do not lie to my face, blood-sucker. I know what you are and you would do well to flee,' he countered. _

_Carlisle was shocked, and could not imagine how these strangers knew what they were, but thought better of asking any questions at the time being. _

'_I can assure you that we are not what we seem. Please, allow me to explain our situation before you make any rash decisions. We indeed mean no harm to you or any other humans,' he attempted to reason. The elder simply laughed._

'_I am not quite human myself, blood-sucker. I am Ephraim Black, a Quileute, the leader of my tribe, and contain the blood of my ancestors – the blood of wolves. The sole purpose of my existence is to eliminate _your kind_,' he spat. _

_Suddenly, as if on cue, one of the elder's companions began to shake and then morphed into a wolf the size of a horse. He bared his teeth and advanced towards Carlisle, while Esme cowered into his back. _

'_Please', Carlisle begged, 'simply allow me a chance to explain, so I can set your mind at ease. If you do not approve of what you hear then by all means attack. You outnumber us by many, we will not resist. But please listen first.'_

_The elder gazed at him for a long moment, then raised his hand back towards the still advancing and growling wolf._

'_Peace, brother. I wish to hear what this leech believes could possibly change my mind. I feel it will give us all a good laugh.' The wolf stopped, but did not break his vicious gaze from Carlisle's eyes. Ephraim motioned for him to speak._

'_My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is Esme, my wife. We are not typical vampires, for we do not harm humans but instead drink from animals. In fact, neither of us has ever drunk a human's blood,' he motioned to the two deer carcasses behind them that they had been feeding on before the Quileutes' arrival. 'We mean no harm to anyone.'_

_The Quileutes all laughed, loudly and uproariously. It was quite clear they did not believe a word of it. Carlisle desperately stepped towards the leader. The laughter stopped instantly and two more men angrily phased into wolves. Carlisle again held his hands up in a peaceful way before he spoke._

'_Please, I only wish to show you something that I hope will help you believe my words. Look at my eyes.'_

_Carlisle motioned to his gold irises, hoping Ephraim would know enough about vampires to know that human blood-drinkers possessed crimson eyes._

_The elder started, shocked by the sight, and was speechless for a moment. He clearly understood the significance of the absence of red in Carlisle's eyes. He pondered for a long while before turning back to his tribe and again raising his hand._

'_I hope this decision does not come back to plague me, my brothers, but I do believe this blood-sucker. We will not be attacking…today.' He turned back to Carlisle. 'However, we will be monitoring your activities very closely, and will not hesitate to end your lives should things become…unsavoury. Do not doubt that.'_

_Carlisle smiled. 'I assure you there will never come a time where that is necessary. I propose we come to an agreement. Esme and I will vow to keep off of the lands of your reservation and continue to never harm a human, if you'll agree to keep off of our land, and also to keep our secret. Any violation of this…treaty, I suppose, is subject to immediate attack. Do we have an accord?'_

_Carlisle stuck out his hand hopefully. Ephraim considered it for a moment before taking it in his own, flinching slightly at the icy touch._

'_May we never meet again, leech.'_

'_I certainly hope not.' _

Carlisle's memory ended there.

"Once Rosalie and Emmett joined us, we had to reassure the tribe that we would continue to maintain the treaty, and have had no trouble since. In fact, the tribe went through several generations with no appearance of the 'wolf gene' as they call it. I believe it only becomes activated if there are threatening vampires in the area. So, you can see Rosalie's concern with the two of you staying with us. However, as long as you abstain from human blood there should be no trouble, and once you have your thirst under control and, should you decide to remain here, we will once again visit the Quileutes to inform them. We find it is easier for the tribe to trust us if we keep no secrets."

"So, there are no wolves now?"Alice asked uneasily.

"Well, we have seen signs that there could be another generation of wolves becoming active. I believe some recent nomad activity is to blame. A trio passed through not too long ago and caused some mayhem in the town. They were only here a few days, but it was most likely enough time to 'activate' the wolf gene in the teenagers on the reservation. I'm hoping we will avoid any contact with them," Carlisle replied, seeming fairly uneasy himself.

I released a breath that I think I'd been holding since Carlisle began his story. These wolves made me nervous to say the least, and the fact that everything depended on Al and I quitting human blood cold-turkey made me feel a bit sick.

Suddenly, a familiar feeling began creeping over my body, urging me to leave the house…the pull was back. I noticed Alice unconsciously lean toward the door we'd come in through, and knew she felt it too.

_It's back Isa, it's STRONG. We need to make a quick excuse and leave…but I really want to come back._

I nodded subtly and quickly so that only Alice would see. Then I stood up.

"This is all extremely interesting and rather overwhelming, Carlisle. If it's alright with you and your…family, we'd like to take a little while to think over our decision. It's quite a big step, and the presence of the wolves does change things. You have our word that we will not do any feeding while we're gone, and we'll return before nightfall."

I knew damn well that we'd decide to stay. Al wouldn't stand for anything else. But I was hoping this would buy us the time we needed to find out why the pull was back.

Carlisle smiled, and nodded his consent.

"I understand the difficulty of this decision, it is indeed life-changing. Please, go discuss in private. We will accept whatever your decision may be, though of course you know which one will allow you to remain with us."

Rosalie audibly growled.

* * *

Ten minutes later we stood hidden in the trees outside of the apartment building. The day had begun, rainy and cloudy, during our time at the Cullen's, and I could hear bustling inside the building – sounds of people rising and starting their days. I was holding my breath in case the human boy's scent was lingering in the air. We listened to their conversation.

"Jazz, let's go! We have no food and it's Sunday, the shops close early! Move your ass!"

_I hope the one named Jazz is mine, then even his name would be sexy. Find out which one is which!_

Alice was clearly swooning, but I did as she asked. As expected, I could only find one mind in the apartment. Through this boy's head I could see that he was looking into a mirror, fixing his curly blonde hair. I had to admit that he was quite handsome, but still no comparison to the boy with the penny-coloured hair. Soon he spoke.

"Fuck! I'll be there in two seconds!" he yelled. The second part he muttered under his breath, so low that I knew even Alice couldn't hear. "Watch it Edward. No one orders Jasper Whitlock around unless they want his foot up their ass…"

"You're in luck Al, the blonde is Jazz, short for Jasper. His last name is Whitlock." I told her, using up half of my air supply.

_So. Effing. Sexy. And what about yours?_

"He's not _mine_. His name is Edward." And there goes the rest of my air. But lord, the feeling of his name rolling off my tongue was heavenly, though I'd never admit it to Alice.

_Edward? Oh that's so vintage. Perfect for you._

I rolled my eyes and went back to listening.

"Ok Masen. Take the stick out of your ass and let's go. I got zero sleep and I'm grumpy as fuck, so let's just get this done with."

_Edward Masen._ I heard him laugh_. _The sound sent shock waves through my body.

A door opened and shut, and we heard them walking down stairs and finally out through the front door. I waited for a car to start, but it never came, and I assumed they were walking.

The pull got suddenly stronger, willing us to go forward. To follow them.

_We're taking a chance here, but luckily it's overcast today. I say we go._

I nodded, and stepped out of the trees. We quickly made our way to the sidewalk in the front of the building and began to follow them, making sure we maintained a pretty big distance. It had rained hard the night before, and there were deep puddles all over the sidewalk and the road. The boys lead us into town, towards the small grocery store.

"So, what do you think about what happened last night?" Jasper asked Edward, leaping over a puddle.

_Eee! They remember us!_

Alice was excited, but I was concerned. We listened harder, making sure we didn't miss a word.

"I don't know dude. Looking back on it, it's pretty fucking creepy. But at the time, I don't know…I wanted whoever it was to stay. And it makes me feel insane," Edward replied.

"I feel the same way. Maybe they'll be back tonight?"

They continued the conversation, laughing at something we didn't hear and turned to cross the street, while Al and I looked at each other. I had absolutely no intention of going back to that balcony tonight. Not only had we promised the Cullens that we'd be back before dark, we also had no right being that close to these humans. Alice, of course, looked at me pleadingly. I shook my head, but I knew she'd try to convince me of going later. While she was staring at me, begging me with her eyes, they glazed over, and she gasped.

_The two boys, talking and laughing, crossing a road to reach the store on the other side…the one called Edward dropping his wallet halfway across, turning back to retrieve it…Jasper, yelling from the sidewalk to get out of the way…Edward looking up, finding himself staring at the front bumper of taxi that had hydroplaned and was now careening towards him, out of control…_

The pull became so strong it almost caused me pain as I watched, in real life, Edward turn around to retrieve his wallet from a puddle in the middle of the road. I didn't wait for the end of Alice's vision before running out into the road, ignoring Alice's mental shrieks to come back.

* * *

**EPOV**

"Maybe they'll be back tonight?" Jasper asked hopefully. I shrugged, but definitely wished the same. I decided to change the subject in case us talking about it would jinx it, or some stupid shit.

"I think I'm going to buy a piano. I'll be a pretty sad music student without one."

"Hahaha! And put it where? We have less room here than we did at the group home."

"Yeah well, I'll think of something. You're lucky you're going to study history, all you need is a shit-load of books and access to the History Channel – crap, where's my wallet? I must have dropped it."

I turned back and saw it lying in the middle of the road. Grumbling, since it now lay in a puddle, I walked forward to pick it up when I heard Jasper yelling at me.

"EDWARD MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY! FUCK!"

I lifted my head in time to come face-to-face with the front bumper of a car. And in that split-second, when I expected to see my life flashing before me, all I saw were red eyes, and all I could think was that I'd never see them again. I closed my eyes.

The impact was less painful than I expected, and felt oddly like arms. It also seemed like I was moving in the complete wrong way, sideways instead of backwards. The pain came when I felt my bare elbow smack into and then scrape against the road, but still, much less than I expected. When the motion stopped the feeling of arms was still there, though it was like they were made of iron. Curious, and also wondering if I was still alive, I opened my eyes. Time stopped.

_Red eyes…_

The most beautiful face I had ever seen was above me, surrounded by a curtain of long, silky brown hair. _I must be dead, and she must be an angel._

It was her arms that were around me, and it took me a moment to realize that no, I was alive, and she had pushed me out of the way. I glanced up and saw that the car, a taxi, had smashed into a lamp post. _One damn taxi in this whole shitty town and it almost kills me._

I then shifted my gaze back to this stunning creature. There was a strange electric feeling coming from every point where she was touching me. I felt completely content, even though my elbow was throbbing with pain. I looked down at it, and saw that it was bleeding profusely. The angel above me gasped, and then…growled?

And suddenly, she was gone. I sat up and looked around frantically for her, but saw nothing except for a crowd of people rushing towards me, Jasper leading them with fear in his eyes. Thought it had seemed like hours, I realized all of this had happened in a matter of seconds.

"Edward! Are you ok? Someone call an ambulance for Christ sake! Why are you all just standing around!?"

Jasper was frantic as he kneeled next to me.

"I'm fine dude, it's just my elbow…where is she? Did you see her? It was _her_ Jazz, from the balcony – "

"I know, just be still in case you have a spinal injury or some shit. Yes, I saw her, and then I saw someone else run in and grab her and literally carry her away. I got this weird tingly feeling when I saw the second person, but they moved so fast that they were blurry and…"

He hesitated, looking unsure. I couldn't stand it, I had to know what he had seen, what I had missed.

"And what Jazz? Spit it out!"

"Edward, I don't think they're…human."


	7. Confessions

**A/N**: Ok, epic fail on my part. I only just figured out how to reply to your fantastic reviews. Don't hold it against me too much, my hair is blonde in the right light after all. Anyway, I will be doing my best to reply to everyone who has reviewed, and to keep up with that from now on. A HUGE FRIGGIN' THANK YOU to everyone who has reassured me that they like the way I'm writing.

::sighs with relief::

I'll also be doing my very best to make the chapters longer. For some reason I just get really excited when I write and want to get to the good part, and I forget that people are reading and actually want some details. Noted.

Enjoy the aftermath of the almost-accident:)

* * *

**Chapter 7: Confessions**

**EPOV**

The ride to the hospital felt like hours. I was way too impatient for this shit. My elbow didn't even hurt that badly anymore, and I just really needed to talk to Jazz. After he'd told me what he'd seen we had to drop the subject – there were too many people around and this was not something I wanted them to overhear. Apparently no one but Jazz had seen my angel and the person who took her away – all they were babbling about was how 'it was a miracle' that I was alive and that they 'had no idea' how I'd gotten out of the way. When the ambulance showed up five minutes later they still hadn't left us alone so I could interrogate him. And now here I was, lying on a gurney, wondering if I'd actually hit my head on the road and hallucinated everything Jazz had said.

When we finally reached the hospital they wheeled me into emergency, ignoring my protests and claims that I was fine. They put me in a bed and a nurse drew the curtain around me, telling me to lie down and that a doctor would be with me soon. I leaned back on the pillow and shut my eyes, trying to make sense of what had happened.

I couldn't. There was no sense to be made. I should be dead, and that's all there was to it. But here I lay, with nothing more serious than a scraped elbow. In the darkness behind my eyelids, the crimson irises of my saviour burned their image into my brain. And to finally have a face to put with those eyes was…exhilarating. I imagined her arms around me and the electric feeling tingled all over my body once more. It was so real that I could almost feel her fingers on the skin where she'd touched me…an icy, strange, yet soothing touch…

"Edward Masen?"

The voice abruptly pulled me from my reverie. My eyes flew open and I quickly sat up. The speaker stood just inside the curtain. He had shockingly pale skin, white-blonde hair, and extremely handsome features…

Uh…you know, for a dude.

He smiled. "Hello, Edward, I'm sorry if I startled you. My name is Dr. Cullen. How are you feeling?"

_How am I feeling? Well doctor, last night I had a fucked-up dream, only to wake up and find someone with red eyes staring at me through my balcony door. Then, of course, it seems that today was my day to die, but that same red-eyed angel saved my life, and then she growled at me, and then…oh yeah, my best friend informs me that she wasn't human…perhaps you'd like to add a CAT scan and a psych evaluation to the list of tests I'm sure you'll be running?_

I cleared my throat and smiled back.

"I'm feeling fine Dr. Cullen, it's just a scraped elbow. I would just really like to get out of here."

"Understandable, of course. But first I'd like to take a look at your elbow, and make sure you don't have any other injuries."

I grudgingly lifted my right arm towards him, flinching when the skin stretched painfully. He gently took it in his hands and used some gauze to clean away the blood. He prodded the bone, checking for breaks I assumed, and fuck did that hurt. Then he shined a light in my eyes to check my pupils.

"Well, there are no broken bones that I can feel, but we should take an x-ray to be sure. No concussion either, which is lucky. The road sure did a number on you here," he pointed to my elbow, "but it looks like you won't need stitches, just some bandaging. You'll be quite sore for a few days, and I expect some pretty impressive bruising, but no lasting damage."

He smiled again as he began to thoroughly clean the wound and bandage my elbow. It only hit me then how much worse this could have been, besides the obvious possibility of my death. What if there had been nerve damage? My piano-playing days could be over right now. Relief flooded me at the thought of this averted disaster.

While the doctor worked I looked up at his face, scrunched in concentration, and for the first time noticed the strange colour of his eyes, almost like liquid-gold. It immediately brought me back to another pair of oddly-coloured eyes…

"Dr. Cullen?"

"Hmm?" he acknowledged distractedly.

"Um, this may seem like a strange question but…is it possible for humans to have red eyes?"

It was almost imperceptible, but I felt him stiffen slightly and fumble in his work, just for a second. He quickly regained his composure.

"Well Edward, the only cases I've ever seen in all my years of medicine have been in albinos," he said simply.

_All your years of medicine? Please, you barely look older than me._

"Why do you ask?"

He was tense and I didn't understand it. But something about this man made me trust him, and I decided to take a chance and relate to him what had happened – leaving out all that stuff about electric touches and lonely feelings, of course.

"Well, it's just that…the accident, you know, someone…someone pushed me out of the way and, well, I only saw them briefly because they…um, ran away, but they…well _she_, had red eyes, and I just thought that was sort of, unique, you know…since she wasn't albino or anything, she had brown hair…"

Dr. Cullen didn't respond right away. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head, processing what I'd told him. Finally he met my gaze.

"Red eyes? Very interesting. Perhaps she was wearing coloured contacts? I hear they're a trend nowadays. But it sounds like you were very lucky." He smiled at me bemusedly.

_Nowadays? This guy talks like he's a senior citizen. If he starts calling me 'sonny' I'm out of here…_

I could tell that Dr. Cullen wasn't planning on adding on to that thought, but I couldn't help but feel like he knew something he wasn't telling me. I didn't push it.

He eventually finished bandaging me up, and lead me into the hall and down to get the x-rays done. They were negative, thank God, because I did not want a _Rookie of the Year-_style cast situation going on. Dr. Cullen finally signed my release papers and told me I was free to go, but not before looking at me curiously, concern in his amber eyes, and also writing me a prescription for some heavy-duty painkillers.

When I walked into the sitting area I was immediately accosted by Jazz.

"Fuck dude! Are you ok? What did the doctor say? How's your elbow? Do you – "

"JAZZ! Let me breathe man. I'm fine. First, we're going to go fill this prescription. Then we're going to get some food – no, don't interrupt, I'm fine, we need food." Jazz had opened his mouth to argue with me, but I was having none of it. He scowled, but relented. I continued.

"And then we're going to go home and try to figure out what the _fuck _is going on."

* * *

**BPOV**

_Not him. Not him. He can't die. It's not right. It's not his time. I've only just found him. Oh no, no. The blood. So much blood. I've hurt him. And he smells so delicious. Maybe just a taste…_

A slap across the face, though not painful, brought me sharply back to reality. I had been reliving the moment of the near-death of my…of Edward constantly, over and over, for who knows how long. My memory got very hazy at the point where I had noticed his bleeding arm, bloodlust overtaking me completely. _Oh shit, had I…bitten him? Alice…I could hear her yelling…how long had she been yelling at me? Was that the first time she'd slapped me? Where were we? And more importantly, where was he? Was he still in pain? Was he hurt badly? Was he…changing? Or even dead? What had I done?_

"Isa! Snap out of it! Can you even hear me? ISA!"

I shook my head vigorously and turned to see Alice staring at me, her eyes fearful but her face screaming annoyance, and her hand held back in preparation for another slap.

"Alice, stop. I'm sorry. I…where are we? What happened? Where is he? Did I hurt him?"

She shook her head. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're just in the forest next to road, and we've been here for about two hours; you were struggling too much for me to get you very far. My vision changed as soon as you ran into the street, so you obviously didn't get to see the ending…"

She replayed the end in her mind for me.

…_Edward looking up, finding himself staring at the front bumper of taxi that had hydroplaned and was now careening towards him, out of control…a blur coming out of nowhere, colliding with Edward and carrying him out of the taxi's path…Edward scraping his right elbow along the road, tearing the skin…the two of us coming to a stop, our eyes meeting…me, noticing his bleeding arm…growling, lunging, sinking my teeth into his wound…Edward screaming in pain, his heartbeat slowly fading…a crowd of horrified people with Jasper in the front, paralysed with fear, watching everything but doing nothing…_

"Ok, I get it Al, that's enough. Obviously I didn't go through with it so – "

"You didn't go through with it, Isa, because I ran in and carried you away before anyone could even blink. But they saw us, the boys saw everything, there was no stopping that. He saw your eyes, he knows who you are."

"Alice, I don't care about that right now! I want to know where he is and if he's ok! I _hurt_ him! Tell me where he is!"

_Ya know Isa, for someone who wanted to stay away from the humans because they couldn't possibly be our mates, you sure are concerned and it seems to me that you'd like to go see Edward…_

"I…no, I just. No. I just want to know that he's ok, and that's all. Because if he's not, it's my fault…"

"Isabella! Listen to yourself! First of all, if you hadn't caused this injury, he'd be dead anyway - either from you or that taxi, but one way or another he'd be dead. Second, if you don't care about him, why did you even save him? And why are you so concerned now, over a scraped elbow? Huh? Answer me that!"

Truth be told, I didn't have an answer. And I really didn't want to think about that fact right now, I just wanted to make sure he was alright. I stood and moved back towards the road, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows. There was no crowd, no ambulance, and most importantly, no dead or injured Edward lying on the pavement. The smashed taxi had long been towed away, leaving a mangled light post in its wake. Remembering that Al and I had passed the hospital on one of our walks through the town, I set off through the trees to find it. Alice came up behind me and grabbed my arm.

"You can't be serious. We were almost caught today, you want to give it another go?"

"Al, I'm only going to stand outside and listen until I find something out, ok? No one will see me."

She hesitantly let my arm go and began to follow me and we soon came upon the hospital. I kept my distance and, able to hear the conversations inside clearly, began listening in while Alice did the same…

"…you're going to feel a little prick, Karen, it's just the needle…"

"…no idea where I put that chart. Ugh, the doctor will have my head for this…"

"…crashing! Bring in the cart now!..."

"… Well Edward, the only cases I've ever seen in all my years of medicine have been in albinos."

Gotcha. Alice and I smiled at each other as relief spread through me. This comment confused me, however, and I continued to listen. Something about that voice sounded very familiar…

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that…the accident, you know, someone…someone pushed me out of the way and, well, I only saw them briefly because they…um, ran away, but they…well she, had red eyes, and I just thought that was sort of, unique, you know…since she wasn't albino or anything, she had brown hair…"

"Red eyes? Very interesting. Perhaps she was wearing coloured contacts? I hear they're a trend nowadays…"

Oddly enough, it was not the audible words that concerned me most. It was the thoughts I could hear coming from the person Edward was speaking with.

_Red eyes and brown hair…it couldn't possibly be…but then who else? There are no others in the area, I'd know about it…it could only be Bella…I think I'll head home early today and see if they've returned yet…_

Shit.

I looked over at Alice, horrified. She obviously had not heard this little tid-bit, but she was still plenty concerned about the rest of the conversation. She met my gaze, seeing the horror in my eyes, and immediately panicked.

_What? What is it? What did you hear?_

"Edward is talking to Carlisle…about me."

_Shit._

"My thoughts exactly."

_Ok…this isn't that big a deal right? We were saving someone's life, he's a doctor, that's his job, so it's not like he can be mad about that…we'll just go back to the house and tell him what happened…_

"Al, we've exposed ourselves. No, _I've _exposed us. If they talk, we're in serious trouble." _And_, I thought to myself, _this could mean the end of any hope we had of staying with the Cullens. The end of our hope for change._

"Well, I think we should talk to Carlisle first and get worried later – oh!"

I quickly looked over at Alice and saw the tell-tale glaze over her eyes. But this vision was different from the others. It was choppy and confusing.

…_Carlisle sitting with us in his office…Edward and Jasper lying on couches, talking…They noticed your eyes' Carlisle was saying…'Who could they be?' Jasper asked…'I wish they'd come back' Edward sighed…'They must be your mates' Carlisle stated simply…_

Alice smirked at me.

"I tol – "

"If you say 'I told you so' I'll throw you into a tree." I sighed. "We'd better just go back and get this over with. And please don't say anything about them being our mates until he does. Even though I personally think you're both insane…"

Al stood up, smiling, and began prancing towards the Cullen's mansion. I followed, lost in my own thoughts and dreading what was coming.

* * *

The house was silent, ominous. I listened for thoughts, but found nothing except for Carlisle in his office on the second floor, doing paperwork. Everyone else must have gone out for the day. I was silently thankful for that, not exactly eager to face the wrath of Rosalie in light of what happened. I got the distinct feeling she would be less than thrilled.

_Is anyone here?_

I nodded and pointed upstairs. Carlisle obviously knew we were here as well.

_Hello Bella. Could you two come upstairs?_

I sighed. "He wants us to go up."

Alice audibly gulped, took a deep breath, and began ascending the staircase at slow, human speed while I followed. We went up to the second floor, and I followed Carlisle's thoughts to find his office at the end of the hall. The door was shut. Alice knocked. The sound for some reason made me think of a judge's gavel being brought down on the bench. _Time for our judgement, I suppose, _I thought wryly.

"Come in."

Al opened the door and we stepped into Carlisle's office. It was very large, and three of the walls were filled from floor to ceiling with hundreds of books. The remaining wall was covered with paintings, all very old by the look of them. Carlisle was sitting behind a large mahogany desk which was also covered in books and stacks of paperwork. He was reclined back in his chair, watching Alice and me with curious eyes.

"Welcome back girls. I believe you had as interesting a day as I had?"

Alice and I looked at each other, not sure what to say.

_Just be honest Isa._

I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day, then turned back to Carlisle.

"Carlisle, I'm so sorry. I hope this hasn't put your family in any danger. I acted recklessly and – "

"Bella! You saved a man's life today! I would be quite hypocritical if I was angry about that, wouldn't I? However, I must say it is quite a coincidence that you just happened to leave my home at the precisely right time to intervene in Edward's accident. Alice, did you have a vision while you were here?"

Alice hesitated, but decided to continue being truthful.

"No, Carlisle. We followed the boys and I only had a vision not even 10 seconds before the accident was going to happen. We were just in the right place at the right time."

Carlisle looked confused once more. "Boys? Plural?"

I sighed. I knew this was bound to happen; it was time to tell Carlisle the rest of our story.

"I'm afraid we kept some information from you yesterday. The…'pull' we've been experiencing did not only lead us here. It first took us to an apartment building in town that Edward and his friend, Jasper, have just moved into."

I explained to Carlisle everything that happened that night on the balcony, not leaving out a single detail, including the fact that I couldn't hear Edward's thoughts. I also explained that while we had been in the Cullen's living room earlier, the pull had returned, taking us once more to the apartment and consequently allowing me to save Edward's life. I told him exactly what had happened in the moments before, during, and after the accident, including the strange electric feeling I experienced when I was holding Edward in my arms. Alice then jumped in and explained what happened at the end of her vision, and how she had prevented it from coming true.

Carlisle was silent for a few moments, taking it all in. I was expecting anger, for him to tell us we'd put his entire family in danger, for him to order us from his home and tell us to never return. Instead, he took both Alice and me by surprise – he smiled.

"Fascinating. I've never heard of anything like this before. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they're human, not vampire or, in the case of both Esme and Emmett, not close to death…"

"I'm sorry Carlisle, I don't follow…what do you mean?" I was dreading the next words out his mouth. Alice sneakily replayed her previous vision in my head and giggled. Stupid omniscient pixie.

"Oh, I thought it would be quite obvious to you both. They must be your mates."

Dammit.

"Ha! I _told_ you Isa, stop being such a defeatist and be happy!"

"No. No, I don't believe that. You can't be serious Carlisle, they're humans! It's not right!"

"I'm afraid species has little to do with this Bella. You should know by now how a vampire's mind works. These boys are in your heads – indeed they are a part of your very souls now. You won't ever get over that. I think you need to accept it. Though the situation with your draw to Edward's blood is, admittedly, quite delicate."

"I think that's putting it a bit mildly, Carlisle."

"Well, I've accepted it," Alice said brightly, "And I think we should go see them and confront them…after we've hunted of course."

"Alice, are you forgetting what Edward's blood does to me? I can't be near him! He couldn't possibly be my mate if I want to drink him _that_ badly!"

"I am curious as to whether this might be a phenomenon I've had some experience with. Well, that Emmett has had some experience with actually. But you can discuss that with him when he and Rosalie get home, to see if your situations match."

"Yes, that would be fine Carlisle, if you still want us to remain with you, that is."

"Girls, I have no concerns. The feelings I got from Edward were nothing to worry about. He is curious, but I do not believe he will discuss this matter with anyone but his friend. In fact, your situation is so fascinating to me that I would very much like you both to remain so I can study it further. Human mates…very difficult…"

"They are NOT our mates! How are you both so blind? This is not possible!" This was infuriating. Just because I save someone's life, now I'm meant to be with them forever? If they were our mates, we'd have to tell them everything – as if they wouldn't run screaming after that?

"Bella! Open your eyes! How else do you explain the pull constantly dragging you to Edward?" Al yelled angrily.

"Well…maybe it was so I could save his life today! End of story!"

"Ok, fine. Maybe it was. And you did that. So the pull is gone from you then? Since you did what you were meant to do?" she asked innocently. She damn well knew the answer to that too. Evil, evil woman.

"No, Al. It's not gone."

"I know it's not. Don't forget, I'm being pulled too…to Jasper. Jasper is my mate. Edward is yours. Just believe it."

This was getting to be way too much for me.

"I…I think I need to be alone. Carlisle, could you just tell me where there is an empty room?"

"Certainly, at the end of the hall on the third floor."

I stood and left the room, walking slowly to the stairs and up to the third floor. I found the room easily, entered, and shut the door behind me. The room was enormous. The entire back wall was made of glass. There was a long black leather sofa on one side of the room, a wardrobe on another, and several long, empty shelves on the walls above them. I got the feeling that Esme couldn't bear having any room unfurnished, even if no one was living in it. _This could be my room…I would be happy with this room…_I thought, hoping I'd get that chance.

I stretched out on the sofa, closed my eyes, and was soon lost in thought. I wished that I could sleep, if only for a few minutes, just to escape this confusing world I had stumbled into. Human mates? Was this someone's idea of a bad joke? It was true though, even if I didn't want it to be. I needed to accept it, Alice was right. But how could it work? Revealing our secrets to the boys could be deadly, not only to them, but to the Cullens as well. But we couldn't exactly be with them and keep up the human charade for long. It had been so long since I'd acted human, I didn't even think I remembered how. Well, the Cullens survive in human society, maybe they could give me some tips…that's if I even plan on being around the humans.

Who am I kidding? I missed him already. I missed his strange, messy hair, the feel of his electric skin, his deep green eyes, his heavenly scent…I knew I'd give in to Alice and go see them tonight. Maybe this time we could actually communicate, I could apologize to Edward for hurting his arm…

But what would giving in to this mean? If I fully admitted that he was my mate, that I wanted to be with him for eternity…but it couldn't be eternity. He was a mortal man, and would eventually die. The thought of losing Edward, even though I didn't have him yet, was horrible. I tried to push it from my mind, but it didn't change the fact that any hope of eternity with him was depending on him becoming an immortal. Could I really do that to him? Would he even want me to? What am I thinking? Expecting him to feel the same as me when he doesn't even know me. He could want nothing to do with me. And as much as that would pain me, I wished for it. I wished for him to run from me and never look back, so he may never know the pain of losing your mortality, your family, your friends…your life. But could I live knowing I had found him, but couldn't have him? No, probably not. Not happily at least. But I'd deal with it if it meant he was safe.

Light knocking on the door brought me out of my trance. I heard the thoughts of Esme, worried about me.

"Come in Esme."

She opened the door and smiled sweetly at me, carrying several shopping bags. She set them on the ground next to the sofa and sat down next to me.

"Hello Bella. I hope you don't mind, but I thought that if you were going to be staying with us, you would like some new clothes. It seems like you've been wearing those for quite some time now. I've brought a variety, but it's mostly casual because…well, you struck me as that type of person. I also got some designer clothes for Alice for the same reason," she smiled again and put her hand over mine, "I hope you both stay Bella. This is the room I had in mind for you, you know."

She stood, picking up half of the bags and moving towards the door.

"I'll go give these to Alice and show her the room I thought of for her. Emmett and Rosalie will be home very soon, and then we'll take you hunting if you like." She turned to leave. This woman was absolutely amazing. I felt the need to make her happy.

"Esme?"

"Yes, Bella dear."

"We're staying. And thank you so much for the clothes and the room and…everything." I smiled. I heard Al giggle and yell 'yay!' from the second floor.

Esme smiled even wider, then nodded her head and left to go find Alice. I knew when she found her and showed her the clothes. I was pretty sure her squeal of joy could be heard for miles. She immediately ran to her new room (which she had seen long before Esme had to point it out to her) and put all of her new clothes away, selecting a pink sundress to frolic in for the rest of the day.

I smiled and began going through my own bags of clothes. Jeans, t-shirts, sweatpants, a few dresses and skirts, some blouses, and several pairs of sandals, sneakers, and heels. Damn. This woman had me down perfectly.

I found a brush on the small dresser and ran it through my tangled hair, then changed into jeans and a green form-fitting t-shirt. It felt amazing to be in clean clothes again. After I was ready I wandered down to the first floor just in time to see Emmett and Rosalie come in the front door. Emmett saw me and immediately laughed and crushed me into a bear hug. I was sure every bone in my body would be broken had I not been practically made of marble.

"You came back! Yes!" Emmett boomed.

I laughed and untangled myself from his grasp. "Yes Emmett, Alice and I have decided to stay."

On cue, Alice pranced down the stairs in her new dress and Emmett crushed her to him while she giggled musically.

I felt Rosalie's glare and turned to her, smiling as genuinely as I could. I really did not want her to hate us, and tried to think of some way to get on her good side, but came up with nothing. She huffed and stormed out of the room, yelling back to Emmett on the way to the back door.

"I need a drink. Let's go hunting."

Carlisle and Esme descended the stairs and started to follow her. Carlisle turned back to Alice and me.

"Sounds like a good idea. Let's go girls, it's time for your first hunt."

* * *

**End Note**: For those of you who got the _Rookie of the Year _reference, I applaud you. If you didn't, I'm sorry, we can't be friends. Well, we can, but only if you immediately go out and rent/buy/beg/borrow/steal and then watch this piece of cinematic gold. Any movie that coins the phrase "funky butt-lovin'" is on my top-ten list.

Next chapter…we have contact. Get excited.


	8. Truth

**A/N**: Thanks for all the reviews and such guys, I smile at each and every one of them.

Sorry the update took longer than usual, I wanted to get it right. Plus I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I thought it was fantastic and I bawled my eyes out, and that distracted me for a while.

Hope this chapter was worth the wait ::Crosses fingers::

P.S. This chapter is dedicated to PrettyFace27 and TriGemini, who have given me fantastic reviews right from the beginning and are keeping me sane.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Truth**

**EPOV**

The groceries were packed away, my elbow wasn't throbbing as much, and I was in possession of powerful painkillers, or as I liked to call them, my 'happy pills'. I had already popped two and was feeling pretty blissful, if I do say so myself. Now, it was time for Jazz and I to try and figure out what was happening to us.

"Ok Jazz, tell me again. Why do you think they're not human?"

Jasper groaned and rubbed his eyes. Yeah, I had asked him this question about four times already. Forgive me if I was finding the answer a little hard to believe.

"Edward, are you sure you didn't hit your head? Are you like, suffering from short term memory loss or some shit? Like that little blue fish from that movie with the…fish?"

"Shut up man, would you act any differently if I were telling _you_ all of this?"

He sighed, but shook his head. "No, I guess I wouldn't. How about we just make a list of everything, and then I won't have to tell you a million times."

He stood up and went to find some paper and a pen in one of his many still-unpacked boxes. I couldn't help but chuckle. Jazz and his fucking lists – I doubt he could ever survive without them. Packing lists, shopping lists, Christmas lists, to-do lists…the 'list' of all his lists goes on and on and –

"Ok, I have some paper, let's get started. First, red eyes. You heard what Dr. Cullen said, it's not natural in someone who's not an albino."

He scribbled this down on the paper. I decided to humour him and give some additions of my own.

"Cold skin. When she was touching me…her hands were icy."

Jasper nodded and jotted that down too. We continued calling out different signs we'd noticed that pointed to their inhumanity.

"They climbed up our balcony…somehow."

"They move really, _really _fast."

"She was…so beautiful. Completely stunning. They don't make human girls like that."

Jasper finished his list and sat staring at it for a long time, lost in his thoughts. What did this all mean? I had to admit, all signs pointed to our new "friends" being supernatural in some way, but how was that possible? These things didn't happen, the supernatural wasn't real…or at least that's what I'd believed for 18 years. Now, my world was turning upside-down.

Jasper finally looked up at me and made a determined face. "Right. They're definitely not human. I don't know what they are or how that's even possible, but it's true. I don't really think we need to be worried though. I just, I don't know, I get the feeling they're just as scared and confused as we are. Maybe they're feeling the same way we have been, and don't understand what to do about it."

I nodded. "Maybe they'll come back tonight and we can talk to them. I'm going to keep my balcony door unlocked, and try to stay awake. Don't forget though, classes start tomorrow, we'll have to get out of here around 10."

I heard Jazz make a gagging sound as I stood up and wandered into the kitchen to find some food, then unpacked some more boxes while pondering the whole situation. How was I not freaked out about this? Quite the opposite, I'd never felt more calm in my life, and I was actually excited at the thought of some random, beautiful stranger breaking into my room at night. Who was I becoming? Before moving to Forks, I would have freaked out completely, changed my name and moved a thousand miles away if something like this had happened. How is it that this…woman was changing me when we'd never actually met?

Later that night, after Jazz and I had given up trying to figure out what they were – I quit after Jazz suggested radioactive spiders – and I had given up trying to unpack more, I was lying on my bed trying to keep my eyes open. I regretted taking two more painkillers, which were currently knocking me for a loop, but the throbbing in my elbow had intensified during the course of the afternoon and I could see the beginnings of some pretty intense bruises creeping out from under my bandage. My balcony door was unlocked and, since my bed's headboard was pushed up against the wall to the left of the door, I was laying at the foot of my bed to keep watch. I had started in a sitting position and kept the light on so that I didn't fall asleep, but the medication was making me light-headed and eventually I had to lie down. I also had to stop shooting upright at every slight movement I saw or sound I heard from outside, since that was making my dizziness worse.

My eyelids felt like lead weights and, after only an hour of waiting, I finally gave up my battle against them. I let them droop close, thinking that maybe this all had been a dream after all.

* * *

**BPOV**

Hunting for animals as opposed to humans was a bit surreal, and surprisingly harder than it looked. All four of the Cullens had caught their meals within a half hour of arriving at the 'hunting ground' – Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie had deer, while Emmett insisted on going after a mountain lion just to show off. Alice and I, on the other hand, hadn't caught a damn thing. Everything about hunting humans was simple. It was easy to lure them, easy to gain their trust, easy for them to shake that uneasy feeling we gave off. Their bodily reactions came as slowly as their thoughts. Animals were not so easily fooled. They were wary of any movement, any slight noise, and had quick reactions that even Alice was having a hard time predicting.

"Don't get discouraged girls," Carlisle said reassuringly, "it can be difficult to get the hang of, but you'll catch on soon."

He also added a thought to me in confidence.

_Don't worry Bella, I don't plan on telling the family about the accident and the human boys, not yet anyway. I doubt they will take it lightly._

His eyes strayed to Rosalie and I understood. She would have our heads on a platter if she knew we were basically stalking humans, even if there was no malicious intent. We would have to be extra careful if we ever wanted to gain her trust. I whispered this all to Alice so quietly that only she could hear. She gave me a concerned look.

_It will be even harder to get her to like us if we're going to start keeping secrets. We've only known them for two days, I don't want to start lying and hiding things, that's no way to gain trust. I think we should tell them ourselves, so we don't get Carlisle in trouble. They have a right to know what we're doing, it affects them now too._

She was right, I knew that. But I also knew that Rosalie would flip out, and I doubted Esme and Emmett would be thrilled either. This subject would have to be approached cautiously, and definitely not now when they were all in hunt-mode.

Al and I discussed the pros and cons of telling the rest of the Cullens while still attempting to catch our dinner. After a few more pointers from Emmett, and even a few from Rosalie on how to keep your clothes from getting ruined during the chase, we had successfully caught and drained a deer a piece. They smelled fairly unappetizing and didn't taste much better, but I was determined to be satisfied with this new diet. Since we had just fed on humans so recently the burn in my throat hadn't quite returned yet, but I couldn't help but notice that the slight ache that was there was hardly quenched by the animal blood. _This was going to be interesting…_

On the run back to the Cullen's house, Alice bombarded me with pleas to sneak out and go see the boys tonight. When we reached the yard we slowed to a walk so we could discuss it in private.

_Isa, come on. Carlisle will understand, he knows what they are to us. And I'll keep you under control, Jasper's blood doesn't call to me like Edward's does to you, and – _

Suddenly, arms the size of tree trunks wrapped around Al's and my shoulders. We both jumped about a foot off the ground.

"So!" Emmett laughed. "Carlisle tells me you encountered a human with some pretty amazing-smelling blood," he said as he waggled his eyebrows. "He wanted you to tell me how it felt, because the same thing happened to me once and it was pretty intense. So tell me Bella, what happened, and is he still living?" He laughed again.

I chuckled back at him. "Yes Emmett, he's still alive. It was the strangest feeling, I'd never experienced it before. I've been able to resist humans before if I needed to, but this one…Alice had to tackle me to the ground so I wouldn't attack him. And that was just the scent coming out of a closed door on the third storey. Up close…" I paused, not wanting to reveal that just today I had been too close for comfort to this human, "Up close, I can't even imagine how strong the desire would be."

Emmett pondered for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Sounds like exactly what happened to me, only I wasn't lucky enough to have a pint-sized sidekick to tackle me," he ruffled Alice's spiky black hair. "I was walking along this dirt lane one day when this smell hit me…it was fantastic, I'd never smelled anything like it. I found the source immediately – a woman hanging laundry nearby – and didn't hesitate. I took her right there, and didn't spare a drop. That was my only human, and will be the only one I ever have."

He smiled at me before he spoke again.

"Bella, have you ever heard of la tua cantante?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, and told him as much. Alice looked lost as well.

"That woman I killed, she was _my _la tua cantante. My singer. It means that her blood sang to me, called me to it. Apparently every vampire has a singer, and it's almost impossible to resist its draw. I'd have to say that this human boy is _your _singer, and if you want any hope of sticking to this new diet and staying here with us, you better keep yourself far, far away from him." He hugged me to his side, then left us and went into the house.

Alice looked at me, stunned.

_But you can't stay away from him Isa, he's your mate! Maybe…maybe you should change him. Maybe that's what we're meant to do, to change them both. Remember my vision? They were newborns, remember?_

I cringed at this thought. I wouldn't change him. How could I subject someone to this fate, to this…half-life?

_I know what you're thinking Isa, even without having your gift. Maybe he'll choose to be like us. Think about it, you've decided not to change him against his will, but in my vision he's still a newborn. That means it'll be his choice in the end, and it looks like you'll give in._

"NO!" No, I wouldn't give in. And he wouldn't choose this life. No sane person would.

_Yes, Isa. And I'm going to see Jasper tonight, with or without you._

She stalked into the house, leaving me alone with my thoughts. If Edward truly was my mate, then Alice was right – unless I wanted to be alone for the rest of my existence, I couldn't stay away from him. Even now, after only knowing who he was for two days, I ached at the thought of never seeing him again. _Ok, _I decided, _we'll ask Carlisle about going to see them tonight. Maybe I can test myself with Al there to keep an eye on me._

I heard a squeal from the house and turned to see Alice prancing towards me.

_I just saw that you're coming with me tonight! Isa, don't worry, it'll totally be fine. From what I saw, as long as we don't touch them, and they don't wake up, it should be no problem for us to sneak in and just…_

She audibly sighed, a dreamy look on her face.

…_just admire them for a while._

I smiled reluctantly, but couldn't stop the giddy feeling rising in my chest. _I am going to see Edward tonight._

Now all we had to do was convince Carlisle that it would be safe for us to go.

Alice and I walked back in the house arm in arm, preparing ourselves to beg for Carlisle's permission. It was strange how we already felt like part of this family in the short time we'd been here, and we were both desperate to continue that feeling. So, this had to be approached very carefully.

We passed Esme pouring over blueprints at the kitchen counter; it looked like she was planning some renovations to the house. She gave us a big smile as we walked by her. In the living room, Emmett was invested in a college football game, screaming at the television with every snap of the ball. As we turned to go up the stairs to Carlisle's office, Rosalie walked down past us. She turned to face us, and I braced myself for the verbal lashing I was sure we were going to get for whatever we'd done wrong this time.

"You girls did well today. You'll get the hang of it soon."

Then she stalked away quickly, as thought she'd said nothing at all. Al and I looked at each other, stunned, then smirked and continued our way up the stairs. Maybe there was a chance for friendship with Rosalie after all.

We found Carlisle in his office, the door open this time, pouring over a medical journal. He looked up as we entered and waved us forward.

"Hello girls. What did you think of your first taste of animal blood?"

I was about to admit that I'd had a bit of a hard time choking it down when Alice blurted out, "It was pretty weird, but I think I liked it!"

Carlisle chuckled. "Glad to hear it. And don't worry, you'll get used to it Bella." He winked at me.

Woops. Guess he noticed my grimace at the mention of animal blood and my subsequent shock at Al's admission that she liked it.

"Now, what can I do for you ladies?"

Alice spoke up first. "Carlisle, we'd like to run something by you, but I'm not sure how much you'll like it."

His expression morphed into one of concern, but he motioned for her to go on.

"We'd like to go see Jasper and Edward tonight. We have no intention of making actual contact, it's more like…a test, to see if they really are our mates, and to see if Bella can resist Edward's blood. I'll be close to her the whole time and will be able to see if she attacks before it even happens, so there's nothing to worry about there. In fact, I've already had a vision and everything turned out fine. So we're hoping for your permission to go," she rattled off confidently.

Carlisle looked at us thoughtfully for a few minutes, then nodded.

"I'll admit I'm concerned, but I have faith in your visions and if they are telling you it'll be fine, I believe it will be. Just be extremely cautious, don't take chances, and at the first sign of trouble you must flee. I ask that you return before midnight, just so the family doesn't worry."

We smiled and stood up to leave. We had just reached the door when Carlisle called out to us.

"Oh, and girls…"

We turned. I smirked at his thoughts.

_Ah, young love._

He smiled. "Enjoy yourselves."

* * *

Alice and I had been hidden in the forest behind the apartment building for hours, and the sun had long been set. She was keeping close watch on her visions to make sure everything would go off without a hitch. I was straining against her arms, breathing deeply, trying to get accustomed to the intense scent coming from Edward's room while Alice held me so I didn't give in and attack him. Admittedly, at first I almost called the whole thing off. That first whiff I got as we approached the building nearly scent me flying to his balcony. Now, however, it was getting much easier, and even though I was planning on holding my breath when we finally climbed up to their rooms, I was taking no chances at all.

We sat waiting for the lights to go off in the rooms, listening to their breathing. Edward's eventually grew deep and his heartbeat slowed, and though his light was still on I knew he was asleep.

Knowing full-well that I couldn't hear Edward's thoughts or see his dreams no matter how many times I tried, I honed in on Jasper's room. It sounded like he was reading, but not concentrating very hard.

_After the battle at Bull Run…shit, I already read that line…um…Stonewall Jackson…nope, read that too…damn, I wonder if they'll come back tonight…maybe I should go to bed, maybe they're like Santa Claus, they'll only come after I'm…oh shit, did I seriously just say that? Thank the freakin' lord Edward can't read my mind, I'd never live that down…_

I giggled and glanced at Al, who gave me a curious look.

"Apparently Jasper is comparing us to Santa because we come when they're sleeping. He wants us to visit though, so that's good."

She smiled brightly.

_He gets sexier every day._

Jasper's light flicked off soon after his embarrassing thought, and shortly after that we heard him drift off to sleep. I walked back deeper into the forest and took one last deep breath, filling my lungs to full capacity with the pure air, praying it would get me through the short time we had with them.

I made the tall leap up to the balcony railing, pulling myself up on top of it and landing soundlessly on the other side. Alice lost no time in following me up. We approached our respective doors and I gave one last nervous glance at Al to make sure her vision hadn't changed.

_All's quiet on the western front, Isa, just relax._

I nodded, turned back to the door, and peered in. Edward was asleep at the foot of the bed, though unlike the first night he seemed to be sleeping dreamlessly, soundly. His peaceful face nearly took my breath away. I looked back to Alice to see how she was doing, and was surprised to find that she had slipped inside Jasper's room. I was shocked that he had left his door unlocked, until I remembered that he was hoping we'd come tonight. _Maybe Edward was hoping we'd come back as well…_

I hesitantly lifted my hand to the handle of the sliding glass door and gave it a gentle tug. It slid open silently. _Guess there's no turning back now._

I stepped quietly over the threshold and slid the door shut behind me. I immediately felt those strange electric tingles all over me again, though not nearly as strong as I had when I was touching Edward's skin. I took some time to glance around his room. Many of his boxes were still unpacked – it looked like he'd only finished setting up his books and what easily numbered two hundred CDs. I inspected all the different titles. Most of his books, I was impressed to find, were classics. Austen, Frost, Hemingway, Dickinson, Poe, the Brontes, Dickens, Tolkien, Shakespeare, Tolstoy – the shelf went on and on. I shifted my gaze to his music. It was quite a mix of genres. I saw some classical, like a collection of twelve different versions of Pachelbel's Canon; plenty of more recent stuff, from Journey to Kings of Leon; even opera. Just by glancing at this shelf I could tell music was a massive part of Edward's life.

I tiptoed to Edward's bedside and examined his superb features. His mouth was slightly open, his breathing slow and deep. I saw the thick bandage around his elbow, deep purple bruises creeping out the sides, and cringed. _I did that to him._ My fingers twitched with the urge to touch him, to soothe his pain. My hand hovered over his injured arm, and it took every ounce of my will power to hold it there and not let it rest on his skin. I closed my eyes and savoured the feeling of being so close to him, even if he was unconscious. Later on, when I looked back on that moment, I could have kicked myself for being so careless. My eyes snapped open.

Edward's left hand was curled around my wrist, his green eyes boring into mine. In my blissful state I had completely missed the signs of him waking up. I had no idea what to do – my limbs completely froze at his touch, which was ironic considering the warmth he was transferring to my skin.

"You."

That was all he said, and yet it conveyed every emotion he was feeling – shock, relief, nervousness, confusion and happiness all clung to that one single word that hung in the air between us. I still couldn't move.

"You're here. I…I didn't think you'd come. You…you saved me, thank you."

I just nodded, unable to find my voice, even though I wouldn't dare speak even if I could for fear of losing all my air. I tried to tug my hand loose from his grasp, but he wouldn't let go. Really, I didn't try that hard to get away. He laughed a little.

"You'll throw yourself in front of a moving vehicle for me, but you won't talk to me? You'll break into my room in the middle of the night, but you won't say a word once you're inside?" He didn't sound, angry, just amused. I smirked a little at his tone, and shook my head.

"Hmm, not a talker huh? Well, that's ok. I'd actually like to do some of the talking…well asking really. Maybe you could mime your answers." He smiled crookedly and I almost melted into a puddle on the floor. I nodded in a daze, but snapped myself out of it in time to hear his questions. I had to be careful here, I couldn't give anything important away. Some things were ok to answer, others definitely were not. I was trying to concentrate on anything else besides his smile and his hand still holding my wrist, sending an electric current through me.

"Well, first question is simple. My name is Edward, and I'd like to know yours."

I hesitated. It wouldn't take much air to answer, but I was afraid that if I started talking to him I wouldn't want to stop, and losing all my un-Edward-scented air could be deadly. _Ok, Bella, you can do this, just one little word…_

"Bella."

_Ok, not so bad, still have plenty of air left._

He smiled. "Bella," he said with a contented sigh.

My name sounded perfect in his mouth, like his voice was the only one on Earth that was supposed to say it.

"Well that wasn't so hard. Now, the second question. Is the other…person with you tonight?"

I could answer this one without speaking, thank freaking god. I nodded, and gestured with my head towards the wall that separated his bedroom from Jasper's.

"Ha, I thought so. Well I'll find out about that later from Jasper I'm sure. Ok, the third question isn't so easy, but I think after everything that's been going on I deserve an answer." He paused, and took a deep breath. "Jasper and I have definitely figured out that you're not human. I never thought I'd ask anyone this in my life but…_what _are you?"

_Shit._

I knew this was coming, ever since I heard Edward's conversation with Carlisle at the hospital. Luckily, they hadn't figured out the whole truth yet, and I had to avoid that happening at all costs. I once more tried to pull my wrist from Edward's hand, but he wasn't budging.

"Bella, we know something's not right. There's no point in pretending you're human. We made a list for Christ sake! A list of things that are off, that aren't supposed to happen in real life! In two days my life went from normal to science fiction! I _deserve _an explanation!"

What was I supposed to say? I felt horrible, horrible that I'd hurt him, that I was _still _causing him pain, and now I'd made him angry. I felt like crying, and almost wished I could. Suddenly he reached for something under the bed, still holding my arm tightly, almost as if he knew he couldn't hurt me. He came out with a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed out on the bed, wincing slightly since he had to use his injured arm. I saw that it was, indeed, a list. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I wasn't kidding, see? We spent all afternoon trying to figure it out, but came up with nothing." He paused. When I didn't answer again he continued. "Well, since you won't talk to me, I'll talk to you. I'll read you this list and maybe I can finally figure it out."

He held the list up, looked at me appraisingly, and smirked.

"Well, you have red eyes, but you're definitely not an albino, so that's weird. Even though your skin is pale enough for it. Do you _ever_ get any sun?"

I couldn't help but give a little smile and shake my head. If only he knew that when I stepped into the sun I looked like a gaudy piece of costume jewelery. My brain went into overdrive to try and think of a way out of this. He was way too close to the truth at this point.

"Ok, next." He squeezed my wrist. "You're skin is like holding an icicle, I'm surprised I'm not getting frostbite. How does that saying go? 'Cold hands, warm heart'? That seems pretty true, you did save my life after all…"

_No, my heart is pretty cold too. And dead, like the rest of me…_

He glanced up at me. "Well, you're stunning. Actually, there isn't even a word to explain how…exquisite you are." He actually blushed a little and quickly turned his eyes back to the paper. I tried to concentrate on how adorable he was being, but the blood into his cheeks made my mouth pool with venom. I quickly swallowed and returned my focus to getting out of there.

"Um…right, you're ridiculously fast and you somehow climbed up to the balcony even though I'm pretty sure that's impossible. Ah, I know!"

I snapped my eyes to his in horror. _No, he couldn't know. He couldn't figure it out. Shit. Shit he totally figured it out. I have to get out of here…NOW._

But before I could make a move, he laughed.

"'Faster than a speeding bullet. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.' Obviously, you're Superman…er, Superwoman. Awesome, my very own super hero." He laughed again. It was like music to my ears. I, again, couldn't suppress my smile. _Quite the opposite of a hero, I'm afraid. The villain is more like it._

His laughter died down but the smile remained. "Ok, ok, maybe that's not it. Let's see what we get when we put all this together…red eyes, pale, cold skin, beauty, speed, strength…"

He trailed off and furrowed his brow, looking as though he was trying to remember something.

"Huh, I forgot to tell Jazz about the fact that you pretty much growled at me when you saw…"

His eyes shot to mine, the smile gone, fear in his wide-eyed stare.

"Blood._ My _blood." He began mouthing wordlessly, as though he had completely lost his voice. I could see it in his face when it all clicked.

"Oh. Oh god. You're a…a…v-v-…"

_Shit shit shit shit shit._

I pulled my arm hard but his grip was stronger than I thought a human's could be. I needed to run. He knew the truth now, he'd figured it out without any help from me. There was no point trying to pretend.

"Vampire."

He whispered this so low that even with my super-sensitive hearing, I could barely make it out. He was still staring at me, waiting for some sort of acknowledgment. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out how I could rip my hand out of his grip without hurting him. I opened my eyes again and met his gaze.

"Yes."

I didn't even need to plan an escape. At my confirmation of his theory, he threw me from him with shocking strength, scrambled up from his bed and ran as far from me as he could get in the small room, holding his hands up in front of him.

"Get out."

I looked at him with sad eyes, slowly stood, and took one step towards him. Maybe if I could just make him understand that I wasn't going to hurt him…

"GET OUT! GET AWAY FROM ME! DON'T EVER COME BACK!"

He pointed forcefully towards the glass door. I flinched and backed up slowly. Could I just leave everything this way? I still had a bit of air left…

"Edward…I – " I choked out, but he was having none of it.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!"

I turned quickly, flung the door open, and leaped off the balcony in less than a second. To Edward I would have been nothing but a blur, but my keen eyes saw everything clearly. That last image of horror and hatred on his face would be burned in my mind forever.

* * *

**End Note**: I decided to go this route with Edward's reaction because Bella's in the book pissed me off. I mean, ok, you love him or whatever, but if someone I loved came up to me and said P.S. I vant to suck your blood, I'd be pretty freaked out at first.


	9. Repercussions

**A/N**: Thanks for the positive feedback for the last chapter. I LOVE hearing your opinions and suggestions. I'm glad all of you liked Edward's reaction to Bella's little secret.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but Twilight owns me. That hardly seems fair.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Repercussions**

**EPOV**

"_Vampire."_

"_Yes."_

I shuddered, which had nothing to do with my bare skin pressed up against the cool wall of my room. I hadn't moved from the corner where I'd ended up after fleeing from Bella, I'd just simply slid down into a crumpled ball on the floor. My attempts to control my breathing into anything less than hyperventilating gasps had proven impossible, and I was light-headed and close to passing out when my door flew open. Jasper threw himself into the room and cast his eyes around in a panic, finally alighting on me in the fetal position.

I met his gaze and felt instantly soothed, my breathing beginning to calm. This was how it had always been with us. Outsiders probably thought we were gay or something. I didn't care – they could think what they wanted. The truth was, we'd been through a lot of shit together for the last 10 years and through it all, we only ever had each other. If one of us was in pain or having a freak-out, the other was there to make it go away. And right now, I wasn't ashamed to admit that I fuckin' needed Jasper.

"Edward? Edward, are you ok? I heard you yelling…did she hurt you or something? What happened?"

I just looked at him, trying to slow my gasping breaths, not really sure what to say and not exactly able to say it anyway.

"Ok, first let's get you off the floor. Can you sit up? Where does it hurt?"

He leaned down, grabbed me under my arms, and lifted me to my feet. Though a little shaky, I managed to stay standing without his help. He began looking me over, I guess searching for a bump or a scratch. _Or a bite mark…_I thought, then shuddered again. I finally put my hands up to stop him.

"I'm not hurt Jazz. Just…stunned and…I need to sit," I rasped out breathlessly. I made my way to the bed and sat down on the corner of the mattress. I stared at the spot on the floor where I had found her crouching next to me.

_Probably scoping out the biggest vein in my neck…_

When I first woke up and found her next to me, my shock quickly subsided into excitement and possibly even some giddiness…of the manliest form, of course. The feel of her skin in my hand was indescribable, and the electricity surging between our connection was enough to make the hair on my arms stand on end.

I was confused at first at her silence, and it almost seemed as though she was holding her breath. I had quickly pushed the idea aside because I thought that wasn't possible, but now I knew better.

Hearing her speak could probably be considered the most exhilarating moment of my life to date.

"_Bella."_

Her name fit her perfectly, and felt magical rolling off my tongue. The way her tiny smirks made her strange crimson eyes crinkle caused my already-pounding heart to flutter erratically. I barely managed to keep my cool during my interrogation. I'd felt horrible for snapping at her when my temper got the best of me, cringing on the inside as I watched her flinch away from my raised voice. The site softened me immediately, and I calmed myself enough to go through mine and Jasper's list.

Part of me was glad I'd figured out the truth and gotten her to leave without losing my blood or my life. The other part of me wished we'd never made that list, because then maybe I'd have never put two and two together and I could still be blissfully ignorant in Bella's intoxicating presence. When it all finally clicked, 'flight' took over 'fight' and I completely freaked out. I didn't even pause to think about the impossibilities of it all – I was past expecting a normal, natural explanation of things.

And, to make things worse, there was still a war raging in my head between being terrified and angry at the blood-thirsty creature that had been in my room, and feeling guilty and remorseful over the pained and saddened look on my beautiful Bella's face when I ordered her away.

_Wait, _MY _beautiful Bella? That couldn't be further from the truth, and I'd like to keep it that way…I…I think…Jesus, I need some Advil…or a stiff drink…_

"Edward? Hey man, Earth to Edward! Are you still with me?" Jasper's concerned voice broke through my confused thoughts. I glanced up at him, noticing that he'd sat down on the bed next to me, and nodded.

"Yeah, sorry Jazz, just drifted off there for a sec…"

"More than a sec." He thrust a glass of water under my nose. I hadn't even noticed he'd left to get it. "Tell me what happened in here."

"I figured it out Jazz, didn't you? When you were in there with _her_, didn't you figure out what they are?"

Jasper shook his head and looked surprised, then smiled. "We didn't really talk about it at all. I woke up to her crouching over me, and she looked all scared but…Edward, shit, she was beautiful. All tiny and pale and spiky black hair and…she looked like a damn fairy, except for those trippy eyes. I grabbed her before she could run off and after fighting me for a bit she stayed and then…I'll never forget this for as long as I live Edward, I saw what time it was and I told her, 'you've kept me waiting for a long time,' and she smiled, and her whole face lit up, and she said, 'you have no idea.' And then we just talked about…anything. I told her about me, and she told me that she has some sort of amnesia thing and can't remember anything about her past, and…I don't know man, I didn't even think to ask what she was, everything was just so natural and it felt…normal, like I'd known her forever and we did this every night…"

He finally took a breath and I couldn't stop the jealousy rising in my chest, constricting my pounding heart. Jasper was still blissfully ignorant. And he got to talk to his visitor, and she'd talked back. I angrily rubbed my face to rid myself of that thought – I knew the truth, I shouldn't have _wanted _her to talk back now. I looked at Jazz and he was fuckin'…_glowing._ I'd never seen that look on his face before. The boy was in love. After one night, after one conversation, he was head-over-heels, Cupid's arrow in his ass, 'His' and 'Her' towels, 'I'll lasso the moon for you' in love.

"What's her name?" I asked, because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

He smiled even wider, somehow. "Alice."

_That's pretty old-fashioned._ I hadn't met a lot of Alices that weren't over the age of forty. It hit me then that the Alice and Bella were probably decades old, even if they didn't look a day over 18. It hadn't even occurred to me to ask how old she was…and how long she'd been that way.

"What your girl's name?" Jasper asked. I cringed a bit at hearing him say _my _girl. I had no idea how I was going to break this to him, that these girls could never be _our_ girls.

"Bella," I sighed, frowning, even though just saying her name made me get butterflies in my stomach.

Suddenly, that tingly feeling I had during that creepy dream last night came over my body again, and I noticed I had unconsciously shifted my weight towards my balcony door. Jasper, I saw, had done the same. I quickly straightened up and ignored it, but the feeling remained.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl, huh?" he quipped, elbowing me in the ribs and smirking. His smile faltered when I didn't return it. I hated that I had to ruin this for him. It was rare that the kid was this happy about anything.

"Come on man, spill it, what was all the yelling about? What are they? It can't be that bad. Well, not that bad for not being human, I guess."

I took a deep breath and avoided his gaze. "Vampires," I whispered.

"You're going to have to speak up there Edwa – "

"Vampires! They're vampires Jazz! You know, the undead? Pointy teeth? They enjoy blood? Not big fans of the sun? Sleep in coffins, turn into bats, hate garlic and holy water? Fucking VAMPIRES!" I roared. I looked up into his face, waiting for it to drain of colour, for him to totally freak out, but it never came. In fact, after looking momentarily stunned, he laughed. No, not just laughed. He fucking _chuckled._

"…So?" he asked.

_So?! How is he so calm about this? The one time I need him to NOT be calm…he freaks out over my grazed elbow, but can't freak out about us being stalked by fucking mythical creatures?!_

"Um, what do you mean 'so'? Vampires kill people Jazz…you know, drain them of blood? And Bella and Alice are _vampires, _and they were in our apartment, in our bedrooms, hovering over us while we slept, and you aren't even the slightest bit concerned?" I asked incredulously.

"I get it man, I read Anne Rice too. And yeah, it's a bit freaky. But think about it. They've had countless opportunities to kill us if they wanted to. They were on our balcony last night, they were in the street today, and they were actually _inside_ our apartment tonight, and yet we're both still quite alive. In fact, the only reason you're alive right now is because Bella _saved _your life which, last time I checked, was pretty much the exact opposite of trying to end it, right?"

_Smartass._

I had to admit he was right. It was strange that they'd made no real attempts to hurt us during the ample opportunities they'd had to do so. Maybe they didn't want to…no, I was not going to start thinking like that. They probably just weren't hungry yet or some shit. I told Jasper as much.

"Man, you've got to chill the fuck out sometimes. If they wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. And did you ever really feel like you were in danger? No, I bet you didn't. Did you ever think that maybe they're _good _vampires?"

I scoffed. He glared at me and continued.

"I know, I know, that sort of sounds like an oxymoron, but it could be true. Think about it. Now we know vampires exist. Yes, it's fucked up and I definitely feel like I'm dreaming, but there's no use being in denial about it. And, if there are two, there could be ten, there could be hundreds, thousands even. I doubt they all chose to be that way, and I'd bet my left nut that in a population that big, there has to be at _least _two who decided to not be killers."

I had to hand it to the man, he definitely had an overactive imagination. I decided to mention the hole in the plot of his "A Tale of Two Good Vamps" story.

"Ok Jazz, then what DO they eat?"

"Who gives a shit dude? Not us. That's all that's important to me. I mean, vampires or not, you have to realize that we're meant to be around them in some capacity."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"I know you feel the pull too Edward, I can tell by how you changed your position at the exact same time I did. It's not a coincidence."

_Fucker. He wasn't supposed to notice that._

"I'll take your silence as you agreeing with me."

I glared at him. He laughed again.

"Edward, relax. Next time they come we'll all talk together and figure it all out."

"Jazz, I seriously doubt they'll be coming back."

With this comment, Jasper's face finally did drain of all colour.

"Wh-what do you mean they won't come back? What did you do? What did you yell at her?"

I hesitated, but there was really no use in trying to keep what happened from him.

"She wouldn't talk to me. I think she was holding her breath, actually. She only ever said her name, and then I did all the talking. I read her the list, and then I remembered something else and…it all clicked. And then I ordered her away. As soon as I figured it out, and she confirmed it, I…I yelled at her to get out and never come back. She looked so sad…"

My regret was winning the war in my head. Jasper looked momentarily defeated, but then cheered up.

"You want to see her again though, don't you." He smiled. It wasn't a question.

I sighed, but nodded. It was true, even if it terrified me to admit it. I could only hope Jasper was right.

He nodded back. "Then I think they'll be back, even if Bella thinks you don't want her to be. If they feel what we feel, they won't be able to stay away for long. It'll work out, don't worry your pretty oddly coloured hair about it."

He patted my shoulder and stood to leave. He took three steps towards the door, then stopped and turned back to me.

"By the way, how _did _you figure it out if she wouldn't talk to you?"

"I remembered…in the street today…when my elbow was bleeding, she…she _growled _ at me."

He paused, thinking. Then he smirked.

"Hot."

* * *

Classes began the next day. Jazz and I managed to arrange our schedules so that we only had classes Monday to Wednesday, though we had to go straight from 8am to 5pm each day. It was slightly hellish, but worth it to have constant four-day weekends.

Jasper and I didn't talk about the girls at all for the next week. I needed to cool off about the whole thing, and I think he was too nervous to bring up the fact that they hadn't come back to the balcony yet. In all honesty, I was concerned about it too, since I knew it was all my fault, and I would be completely to blame if he never got to see Alice again. Plus…well, let's just say the war in my head had ended, and anger waved the white flag to make way for guilt. I wanted to see Bella.

All that week they came, every night, but stayed hidden in the trees. They probably had no idea that Jazz and I knew they were out there, but we could feel it. That tingly feeling always got stronger when they were close. I never let Jazz go out to the balcony though. I wanted to give them space, just like they were giving it to us. By Saturday afternoon, though, Jazz was going nuts.

"Edward, I'm sick of this. They're out there every night and I don't want to ignore that anymore. I don't want to ignore _her _anymore. I can feel her right now, in the middle of the day when I know she's not there. I'm being pulled towards her. You are too."

I nodded, then shrugged my shoulders. I could indeed feel myself being pulled, and knew it was towards Bella. That didn't mean I planned on doing anything about it.

"It's not like we can do anything about it Jazz. If they ever come up here, it'll be on their own terms."

He shook his head, his anger growing. "No. I'm going to do something about it."

And with that, he marched out of my room and out the front door of the apartment. Confused and slightly horrified, I scrambled off of my bed to follow him. When I finally caught up with him on the stairs, he completely ignored my pleas for him to stop and continued right out the front entrance of the building. He turned the corner of the building and walked into the yard in the back, hesitated, then took a deep breath and plunged into the forest.

"Jazz! What the hell are you doing?!" I sprinted after him but he refused to turn around, shaking off my arm when I tried to stop him.

"I'm following it Edward. I'm going to follow this pull and see where it leads me. I can't just sit around and do nothing. And I also think, since it's probably _your _fault that they're not coming up to the balcony anymore, that you owe me, and should come too. But even if you won't, I'm going."

"I…"

I didn't know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut and just followed him silently.

_Talk about a fucking guilt-trip…_

We walked for a really long time, and I couldn't deny that the pull seemed to get stronger with every step we took, leading us in what was unmistakably the right direction. We eventually found a river and, keeping it to our right, began to follow it. The sun was sinking lower on the horizon when we finally came out of the trees into a clearing.

Without really looking around I asked, "Where are we?"

Jazz nudged me with his elbow and pointed to the left, where I was greeted with the sight of an enormous white mansion, and said, "I think…we're _there_."

* * *

**BPOV**

While I was fleeing through the trees and back towards the Cullen's house, I stopped abruptly and noticed with mounting terror that Alice wasn't with me. In all the stress of the situation in Edward's room, I'd completely forgotten about her. I listened for her thoughts and breathed a sigh of relief when I heard her coming through the forest.

…_must be so mad at me. This is all my fault, I should have been more focused! She'll probably never forgive me…_

I barely had time to feel thoroughly confused before she burst through the bushes behind me.

"Isa!"

She ran up to me and hugged me to her tightly, practically crushing me in the process. I managed to pry myself loose from her grasp, though not without some difficulty.

"Isa! Oh god, I'm so sorry! This is all my fault, I – "

"Alice!" I interrupted. "Jesus, slow down. What's your fault? What happened with Jasper?"

Alice took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"I was watching him sleep, you know? He looked so peaceful and adorable, and I wasn't paying attention to anything but his face, and then he suddenly woke up, and I couldn't even move. I knew I should be running away, but I didn't. And then he grabbed me and wouldn't let go, and then he said, 'you've kept me waiting for a long time', and I knew he was talking about him trying to stay awake for me, but I thought of how meaningful that really was for _me_, so I said 'you have no idea'. And then he let me go, because he knew I'd stay, and then we just talked for a while and I couldn't think about anything but him and how absolutely perfect he was and…I missed it. I missed seeing what would happen with Edward. It wasn't until I heard him yelling that I snapped out of my Jasper-centric state and saw what was happening…oh Isa, he looked so angry, and you looked so sad and scared and…I saw that you were going to run so as soon as I heard the door open I gave Jasper and apologetic look and followed you and…Isa, I'm so sorry! I could have prevented the whole thing! I can't believe he figured it out…it's my fault."

I could tell this was one of those times in Alice's life that she wished she could cry. My heart broke for her. Not just because she was needlessly blaming herself, but because she had been having such a perfect time with Jasper and it had been ruined and cut short. I grabbed her and pulled her to me, hugging her as tightly as she had done to me before.

"Al, none of this is your fault, so stop. You deserved to have that time with Jasper that was free of concerns for anyone else. I'm glad Edward knows what we are and I'm glad that he was angry about it. He should be angry, and scared, and…and it doesn't matter how I feel about him, because what he feels is much more important."

Alice pulled away and shook her head. "Don't talk like that Isa, you matter too. And besides, you know it's meant to be, that it's fate…I mean, don't you feel it? The pull? It came back to me as soon as I left Jasper's room."

I had felt it come back, and told Alice as much. But that didn't change the fact that things could never be right between Edward and me.

Alice looked me in the eye. "Tell me you don't love him, and I'll drop it forever."

I hesitated. I couldn't love him. I didn't even know him. And I'd only known of his existence for two days. It wasn't possible. It was absolutely not possible that I missed him already, or that the feel of his skin on mine actually gave purpose to my existence because of how badly I wanted to feel it again, or that just being in that room with him, whether he was yelling at me or not, was the single greatest experience of my life…_shit._

"I…I love him Alice. But…but it doesn't matter, because he clearly hates me."

"He doesn't hate you, Isa. He's just scared and confused. He just needs some time to cool off. Trust me."

I tried to believe her. Every night for the next week, we went hunting with the Cullens. Alice and I were getting much better, and the trips were getting shorter and shorter. Afterwards, we'd hang out with Emmett and play games, or chat with Carlisle about this or that, or spend time with Esme planting flowers and rearranging furniture, or even watching Rosalie tune the cars while she taught us about transmissions and fuel lines and fan belts. She seemed to warm slightly to us over those next few days, though it was definitely not the full acceptance of the rest of the family, and her angry, nasty attitude never failed to rear its ugly head at least once a day.

After these evening activities, we'd claim that we wanted to go for a run to get familiar with our surroundings. Carlisle made sure to tell us where the line that marked the edge of the Quileute property began so that we wouldn't make the terrible mistake of crossing it. Then we'd go off running, and always end up in the trees behind the apartment building, listening to the boys but never making our presence known to them. We'd then leave as soon as they were asleep to avoid any temptations of visiting their rooms. I couldn't help but notice that they never spoke about us.

On Saturday morning Carlisle called us into his office. Rosalie, Emmett and Esme had all gone out for various reasons, and I knew he chose this time when the house was empty to ask us about the boys.

"I was wondering, girls, how your nightly visits to the boys have been going?"

Al and I looked at each other in shock.

_How did he know? _Al thought.

He chuckled. "Yes, yes, I know that's where you've been going. It's not hard to figure out, and I can't say I'm surprised. How has it been working out with – "

"Oh Carlisle! It was so good and now it's just awful!" Alice burst out. She then proceeded to inform Carlisle of everything that had happened; from sneaking into the rooms to getting caught; from calm Jasper to temperamental Edward; from being ordered away to still sneaking into the trees every night; and from me loving Edward to him absolutely hating me.

Needless to say, Carlisle was quite concerned. Not only did two humans know about the existence of vampires, but they were not at all accepting about it. I only knew this due to his worried thoughts, because before he could express any of it verbally to Alice and me, we were interrupted by a shriek of anger from the front yard. Carlisle closed his eyes wearily.

_I believe that is Rosalie, and it seems she's overheard some of our conversation…_

He stood and quickly went down to the front door and outside. Alice and I followed hesitantly, terrified that we were essentially walking to our execution. We saw Rose, fuming, next to Emmett who was holding her around the waist, looking confused. Esme had also arrived, and was wringing her hands nervously. She put her arm around Carlisle's waist as he approached.

"Humans, Carlisle?! You've known about this and you _allowed it_? And now they know about _us_? Are you insane? Now we have to worry about wolves _and _the Volturi!"

Carlisle quickly explained the situation, though I had to admit it didn't sound very good. Esme looked shocked, but her thoughts betrayed her.

_Oh they've found love, it's wonderful, even if they are human…_

Emmett looked uncomfortable about the whole thing, but didn't say anything out loud.

_Well…this is a difficult situation, especially having her singer be her mate…_

Rosalie was still shrieking, whirling around and getting in our faces. I had no idea what to say to make anything better, so I kept silent. Carlisle was attempting to defend us, but Rosalie was having none of it.

"Shut up Carlisle. I don't care if you are the self-appointed head of this family, there are some things that you do not keep to yourself! This concerns everyone, not just you, and not just _them_!" she sneered as she pointed at us. I finally spoke up.

"You're right Rosalie. We should have been honest from the beginning. And I know it doesn't make it any better, but I can assure you that we won't be having any trouble from the humans. We don't plan on going near them anymore."

Alice scoffed. Everyone turned to look at her. The ensuing silence was deafening. She looked around fearlessly.

"I'm planning on going near Jasper again. I won't lie to you. He's my mate, and I won't stay away from him. I've been alone for too long. You don't scare me Rosalie. If you have that much of a problem with it, I'll leave."

I gaped at Alice. I felt a mixture of pride for her standing up for herself, and horror for her possibly having condemned herself.

Carlisle stepped forward. "Ok girls, that's enough. We don't want you to leave, and I think we can – "

"NO! I _do _want them to leave! If you're going to bring danger to our family then you should both just get the hell away from here!"

"Rose that's enough!" Carlisle bellowed.

The screaming of both audible words and raging thoughts was overwhelming me. I brought my hands to my head and shook it rapidly, trying unsuccessfully to rid my head of the clamour. My head felt like it was going to explode, but no one seemed to notice. Instead of trying to shut them all up, I just took off. I needed to run and get away from all of it, whether it was for a few minutes, a few hours, or if I just never came back to this house, to this town…to Edward.

I ran as fast as I possibly could, not caring where I was going and blocking out any thoughts that were intruding into my head. I knew I was too fast for anyone to catch up to me, so I put my head down and ignored everything.

Later, I would find out what a huge mistake that was, because I blocked out Alice's verbal and mental shrieks warning me about the vision she'd had as I ran away – a vision telling her where I was running to without realising.

When I finally did look up and take in my surroundings, I stopped dead in my tracks and froze completely.

I'd crossed the treaty line.

* * *

**End Note**: So this chapter was probably not that exciting, but its purpose was to move the story along to a more exciting place, so hopefully that's ok with everyone. Well, I'm sure it is, since it's been moving relatively slowly for 8 chapters and you people want some action/conflict/angst! And you're gettin' it!

P.S. Anyone catch the "It's a Wonderful Life" reference? Kudos if you did, you know your classic Jimmy Stewart Christmas movies.


	10. Visitors

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait all. Life has been full of epic fails for the last few weeks. First ffn died, then I was miserably ill (and I freaked out and thought I had swine flu, luckily I didn't), then my lovely-except-right-now-I-want-to-kill-him boyfriend stepped on my laptop and cracked the screen, so I had to wait for a new one courtesy of his bank account, and then it was my birthday on the 26th of August (which was not a fail, except for the ensuing hangover), and then I got food poisoning. Basically everything was against me posting chapter 10 and my life was like a month-long version of _Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day_, so hopefully the chap is good and I can laugh at the universe for all of its useless fuckery.

Some of my time was also taken up writing an entry for the "For the Love of Jasper" one-shot contest. It's on my profile if you'd like to check it out. Heartfail. You've been warned.

I know you're all getting impatient for E/B time, so I promise after this chapter there will be bulk fluff for a little while.

This chapter is dedicated to my fellow rehabbers Frenchbeanz ("Juggernaut") and Emmie (aka Ivy Kelley, "For the Love of Bella") for pretty much single-handedly bringing me to 80 reviews this past week. If you're not reading their fics, you should be, what's wrong with you. Thanks for the support ladies!

Ok, this A/N is probably longer than the chapter now. Sorry.

**Disclaimer:** I think you know the drill by now. It's not mine.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Visitors**

_When we last left off, Bella had crossed the treaty line, and the boys found themselves strolling into the Cullen's backyard in search of their lady friends._

**BPOV**

_Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit._

I was across the treaty line. I'd only known about the damn thing for a week and I already screwed up. I kept completely still, hoping not to spread my scent, but I knew that was pretty much useless. I had no doubt that the wolves had a sense of smell that was nearly as good as my own. I tried to think about how badly this could turn out. I could die, naturally. The Cullen's lives would be at risk too, and Alice's.

Essentially, I was fucked.

I nearly pulled out all of my hair in frustration and, if I was being honest with myself, a little bit of fear. Which turned into a huge amount of fear when I heard approaching thoughts. I let out a long sigh of relief when I realized I recognized them.

_Isa!_

I turned on the spot and saw Alice and Carlisle standing about 100 yards away, just on the other side of the line.

Alice looked horrified. Carlisle looked like he was concentrating very hard.

_Bella, I don't hear them coming, we might be able to retreat and have them be none the wiser. Follow the same path you took in so your scent doesn't spread any further. Come slowly._

He waved his arm, beckoning me forward. I began walking, making sure I stepped on the same broken twigs and hit the same hanging branches on the way back. Once I crossed the line again the three of us took off for the Cullen's house, Carlisle and Alice listening for any approaching sounds while I listened for any approaching thoughts.

We managed to make it back to the house in one piece, and were convinced we hadn't been followed. Rose, Emmett, and Esme had moved inside, and we found them in the living room when we arrived, waiting for us.

Esme rushed forward to me immediately. She wrapped her arms around me and held me to her. I froze with shock, and heard Rose snort in disgust at the gesture.

"Oh Bella, we were – "

Rose cleared her throat.

" – ahem, Emmett and I were so worried about you. Alice saw that you were going to cross the line and I was afraid they'd catch you – "

"Esme, just because we made it away from the line doesn't mean they won't eventually find out. We need to be prepared in case that happens. But for right now, I think we need to have a family meeting about the human boys, and what we're going to do about this," Carlisle said.

I heard Alice gulp beside me.

_Isa, you don't think they'll…kill them, do you? Because they know about us? It'll be all our fault…_

I made a slight shake of the head that only Alice would notice. I definitely didn't think Carlisle would allow that to happen, but I personally couldn't think of any alternative.

Carlisle continued.

"I want this to be a _calm _and _civil _discussion – " he shot a look to Rosalie, " – and I don't want any rash decisions to be made."

We all sat down on the couches. Al and I ended up being isolated on the loveseat, clearly outsiders, and the sole causes of this situation.

Emmett gently nudged Rosalie and she piped up first. I cringed and prepared myself for her tearing me a new one.

"Ok, listen girls."

Alice looked worried beside me.

Rosalie glanced over at Emmett, her face slightly pleading. Emmett simply raised his eyebrows and nodded towards Alice and me. Rose sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"I may have been too hard on you lately. I admire you both for wanting to change your feeding habits, and while I'm not happy that you can't just do that yourselves and not _live_ with us – "

Emmett elbowed her in the side. Rose smacked him in the back of the head, then continued.

"While I'm not exactly thrilled about that, I do understand that it's really difficult and you could use all the help you can get. Until recently, you hadn't done anything to make me doubt your intensions or make me not trust that you wouldn't bring harm to my family. However, not only have you exposed yourselves, and by association the rest of us, to humans, you've crossed the treaty line and have now brought the wrath of the wolves upon us as well. And if the wolves should find out about those humans? Well, I don't really want to think about it, but it won't be pretty."

Though shocked at Rosalie's speech, Alice and I couldn't help but bow our heads in shame. She was right about all of it, of course. This family had taken us in and helped us adjust to a new life, and we'd taken it all for granted and put them all in danger. We would have to leave, that much was clear, and take our chances with the wolves by ourselves.

But Rose wasn't finished yet, and the shocks just kept coming.

"I can relate to falling for someone while they're human," she glanced to Emmett with a smile, "but our situations are entirely different and I think you're both fools to be going anywhere near those boys. Not just for the sake of our secret, but for their safety as well. And as for the wolves? Well, I've always hated them, so you can rest assured that if they want to get to you, Bella, they'll have to go through all of us first."

I stared wide-eyed at Rose, not able to put any coherent thoughts together into words. Where the hell did this change of heart come from? Alice was thinking the same thing.

_Isa, I think she hit her head. Like, really hard. Or maybe she's drunk…can we get drunk? I don't even know…but something's weird._

Rose actually snickered at the looks on our faces.

"I know, this probably all sounds a bit strange, since I haven't exactly been your biggest fans."

_Well that's the understatement of the century…_

I glanced at Emmett, who was smirking at me.

"Just know that I mean what I say, and I also mean it when I say that if anything happens to my family because of either of you two, I will not hesitate to rip you limb from limb and throw you to the wolves – and I mean that quite literally."

Alice and I both nodded, and Emmett winked at us. I had no doubt that he had everything to do with Rosalie's little speech, since he was basically the only one who could reason with her. Even Carlisle looked confused.

"Um…yes, well. Thank you Rose, for your…input. Now, about the boys. I – "

There was a loud knock at the door. Everyone froze, then turned to me. We'd all been listening so intently to Rosalie that none of us noticed people approaching the house. I quickly listened in.

…_pay for this. We've got them this time…_

…_hope Jacob doesn't overreact like he always does. Kid's got the worst temper…_

My eyes widened in horror. This could only be bad news. Carlisle noticed my reaction and put his hand up, silently requesting that everyone stay seated. Rose ignored his gesture and stood, arms crossed, gaze fixed on the entryway. He sighed, but got up and went to answer the door. I glanced at Alice beside me, who looked confused, slightly angry, and kept shaking her head. My questions would have to wait, though, because Carlisle had opened the door.

"Sam, Jacob, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Save it leech. One of you crossed the line. Hand them over, and maybe we'll – "

"_Enough, _Jacob," the one called Sam snapped. I chanced a glance over to the door and got a good look at our visitors. Both were extremely tall with dark, reddish skin and long black hair. Sam, who looked older than the other, wore his hair down, while the younger man named Jacob had his pulled back into a ponytail, tied with a leather strap. Both were very muscular, and gave off a particularly pungent, woodsy odour that wasn't exactly pleasant. I remembered Carlisle explaining how the wolves smelled that first time they met them in the woods. Obviously, these were the Quileutes.

Sam seemed very unhappy with Jacob.

_Stupid boy, I told him I would be handling this. If he goes against my orders once more…_

Sam shook his head, halting his thoughts, and began speaking to Carlisle.

"Cullen. One of our boys caught a new scent this morning, definitely one of _your kind_." He wrinkled his nose, as if at the memory of the scent. I guess we didn't smell too good to them either. "Was it one of your family? I would appreciate honesty, though I can't promise it will change the outcome. You all know better."

Carlisle sighed.

_Honesty would be best, I suppose. Don't worry, Bella._

"Sam, Jacob, would you like to come in and allow me to explain?"

Carlisle moved to the side to allow them to pass. Both hesitated. Eventually they moved slowly into the room, but stopped a few feet from the door and refused to move any further. Rosalie, the nearest to them, hissed quietly but otherwise stayed silent. Carlisle came back into the living room and sat down once more. The men's eyes immediately landed on Alice and me. Jacob, I noticed, began to tremble slightly. Sam put a hand on his arm and he calmed, but his face remained taut with fury.

With a last glance at the two of us, Carlisle began his explanation.

"Sam, Jacob, this is Alice and Bella. They came to us a week ago asking for our help, to change their ways and adapt to our diet. You can see by their eyes that it has been some time since they've had human blood."

Confused, I looked at Carlisle with a questioning glance. Esme noticed and answered with a smile.

"Your eyes, girls. They were bright red when you came here, but with all the animal blood you've been drinking, they've started to develop a slight gold tinge around the edges. In a few months, they will be completely gold, barring any…slip-ups."

Jacob had started to tremble again. Carlisle attempted to put him at ease.

"I can assure you both that, had Bella and Alice officially decided to make their home with us, we would have informed you immediately. The current situation is more of a trial period, to insure they will be able to stick with our life style."

"And why were they on our property blood-sucker? Forget to mention that little detail to your new pets?" Jacob growled.

I struggled to hold in my giggle, reminded of the first day we met Emmett and his desire to 'keep us' like a couple of stray kittens.

Carlisle sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, while Sam shot another warning glare at Jacob. Jacob's reaction was one of shame, and I immediately pictured a scolded dog with its tail between its legs. _Appropriate, _I thought to myself.

"We did tell the girls about the treaty, the very first day they came to us. However, my mistake occurred by not showing them the treaty line myself. I merely vaguely explained the area it was located and expected them to know precisely where I was talking about. It was extremely foolish of me, as they are new to the area and really would have no idea what I was speaking of. Then earlier today, my family and I…overburdened Bella, and she went for a run to clear her head and accidentally crossed the line. I can assure you that as soon as she realized her mistake she turned right around and came back to our side. She meant no harm at all, and will definitely not be doing it again."

_None of you ever 'mean no harm', leech…your very existence is harmful…_

Jacob's thoughts were scathing and I glanced at him briefly, not quite understanding his malice. He noticed me looking and appraised me curiously. I quickly looked away.

_Weird, it's almost like that one heard me or something…_

He shook his head and returned his attention to the conversation. Sam, though appearing sceptical, seemed to relax minutely.

_He's never lied to us before…damn, I hate how easy it is to trust him!_

I smirked, knowing full-well what Sam meant. Jacob glanced at me inquisitively again, but averted his gaze once Sam began speaking.

"As much as I hate to say this, Cullen…you've been true to your word for a long time and we've never had a problem with you since the treaty was made. I'm willing to let this one transgression go, but be warned that we will be watching you even more closely than before. And remember, should any of you cross the line again, we will not be so lenient." His voice was strained as he spoke – it was clearly an effort for him to control his anger and relent. I also couldn't help but notice that his eyes drifted to me while he was speaking.

Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief and didn't seem shocked at all. I was surprised, to say the least, that he was going so easy on me.

_The pack is still too young for any full-fledged battle…no control, no restraint, no skill. But next time…we'll be ready…_

Ah. So that's it. Sam was only trying to protect his pack, knowing the vampires, now six strong, could very well overpower his undertrained wolves. Jacob didn't seem to agree. He stared at Sam, then myself, with murderous eyes and began to tremble violently. At first, I thought he was having some sort of fit – until I remembered Carlisle's memory, and how the tribesmen acted just before they…

_Shit._

Rosalie was too close, and Jacob was young, with no control. He would undoubtedly lunge for whoever was nearest.

I ran forward and grabbed Rose's shoulders, pulled her back to my chest, and leapt back out of the way just as Jacob phased in a snarling explosion of fur, teeth and claws – and landed, claws tensed, teeth bared, exactly where Rosalie had been standing moments before. Sam was furious.

"OUT JACOB! NOW!" he roared and pointed towards the still-open door. Jacob, still snarling, retreated for the exit. He nearly couldn't fit, but was finally gone from the house.

Sam shook his head, and let out a long breath.

"I apologize. He's young and lacks control. I'll be sure to have a…talk with him." His eyes narrowed. I imagined it wouldn't be as much of a talk as a scolding. "Don't forget what I said Cullen. No more second chances."

And with that, he turned and stalked out of the house in search of Jacob.

Rosalie, who had been momentarily stunned, suddenly realized I still had a hold of her shoulders and quickly shrugged me off. I was worried I'd overstepped an invisible line by touching her, but couldn't bring myself to regret my actions. Though I had no doubt that she could hold her own against the wolf, a fight in the middle of Esme's pristine living room was the last thing we needed.

She turned, eyeing me curiously, then gave me a little smirk.

"Thank you, Bella."

_I hope she doesn't think I owe her something now…_

I returned her smirk and shook my head. She nodded, then walked to Emmett's side.

"Well, that went better than I expected…Alice? Are you alright?" The concern in Carlisle's voice caused me to turn quickly to look at Alice, who was visibly upset. She was shaking her head, much as she had when the Quileutes first arrived, and was clearly frustrated.

_What's wrong with me?! I can't see! I didn't see them coming, and nothing is coming – oh!_

Alice's frantic thoughts were replaced by a strong vision. Even without Alice's gift, I knew this was going to happen very, very soon just by how vivid and clear it was.

…_Edward and Jasper arguing inside of their apartment…Jasper storms off with Edward on his heels…the boys walking through the forest, following the river…coming to a clearing and seeing a large, white mansion…_

"Isa!"

Oh no. They were coming _here._

"What is it Alice? What did you see?" Esme stepped forward and the look in her eyes shocked me. They oozed a fierce, powerful protectiveness that I'd never seen in her before.

_If those wolves think I'll allow them within an inch of my family again…_

I was nearly overcome with emotion when I saw, in Esme's mind, flashes of the faces of her family – Alice and I were among them.

"The boys! The human boys! They're coming here, I don't know why, or how they found us. They're – "

"Here."

Alice looked at me, horrified. I could only nod, confirming what I had said. Jasper's thoughts were ringing clear from the backyard.

_Look at the size of this place! And the whole back wall is glass! Man, if the girls live here, I want in too…our entire apartment building could fit inside there…_

The Cullens all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

_Humans here, and so soon after the wolves have left… _

Carlisle shared my exact concern. Would they be able to smell the boys, and come back?

Only Emmett seemed to not see any problems.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Don't just leave them out there! Invite them in…for dinner!" He broke out in an evil scientist-style laugh and put the tips of his fingers together into a pyramid. Rosalie elbowed him hard in the side, while the rest of us chuckled, glad for the break in tension. I turned to Carlisle for some advice.

"Go. We'll be here, listening for the wolves and if…anything else should happen."

I knew he was speaking of my control around Edward. I hoped being outside, and not in the confined space of his bedroom, would help with that. Esme nodded her approval with a large smile, while Rosalie, surprisingly, stayed silent on the matter.

So, with the Cullen's support, Al and I made for the back door.

* * *

**EPOV**

"We're _where_, Jazz?" I looked at the enormous house to my left, my mouth hanging open in awe at the sheer size of the thing. _Didn't vampires sleep in crypts? In like, cemeteries? With bats and cobwebs and coffins? This place had huge windows everywhere and…is that a garden I see?_

"The pull's gone man, can't you tell? We must be where they are. They must be in there. Should…do you think we should knock? Isn't there that thing with vampires that you can't enter the house unless they invite you…oh wait, _we'd _have to be the vampires for that to –"

Suddenly the back door opened and we froze. Bella, and who could only be Alice, stepped out of the house and into the yard, walking slowly toward us. I knew first-hand they were capable of much faster speeds. This slow, cautious movement was completely for our benefit. Though I appreciated the gesture, I just really wanted Bella to get her ass over here.

We waited for them to speak first, since neither of us could think of a good explanation for why we were here.

They stopped walking a good 10 yards away from us, clearly not wanting to get too close in case we freaked out again.

_Don't be thick, Masen. It's in case YOU freak out again._

I grimaced at the memory of yelling at Bella, wishing I could take it back now that I could see her gorgeous face again, and feel the electricity in the air from her presence.

"Hello Edward…Jasper." The little one, Alice, called in her bell-like voice. Her eyes lingered on Jazz, and her smile grew as their eyes met. Bella was looking at the ground. Jasper was staring at Alice, making no move to speak. I sighed.

"You could be no one but Alice. Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." I smiled at her tentatively. She nodded, flicking her eyes in my direction, but quickly looking back to Jazz.

"What are you doing here? How did you find us?" she asked.

He smiled, then shrugged. "We wanted to see you…both of you."

Bella looked up briefly, surprise etched on her face, but she wouldn't meet me eyes and looked down just as quickly.

Jasper continued.

"There's always this weird feeling when we're away from you…it's like it pulls us to you. We followed it, and now we're here."

Alice's smile grew even larger, but Bella remained silent. I couldn't take it anymore. I was surprised that any fear I held a few days ago had completely dissipated, leaving only the need to see Bella's face and listen to her voice in its wake.

"Guys, can I talk to Bella for a minute…alone?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella stiffen, take a slow, deep breath, then nod slightly, as if to herself. Jasper and Alice, happy to be alone themselves, gladly obliged and frolicked off to a far corner of the yard. No, I'm not kidding. They frolicked.

Bella didn't move, so I cautiously walked towards her, closing the way-too-large distance between us. As soon as I was within about two feet of her I stopped, resisting the urge to touch her skin.

"Bella, look at me. Please?"

She didn't. I didn't blame her, really. I'd treated her unfairly, and had to make it better.

"Ok, if you won't look, at least listen. I'm so, so sorry. I…I definitely wasn't expecting you to be…what you are, and it took me by surprise. And yeah, it freaked me the fuck out. I didn't know what else to do, so I lost my temper and…shit Bella, it was so wrong of me. I should have let you explain. I should have trusted you. I should have realized that something was different, that I never felt afraid of you for a reason, that I feel a pull, a connection to you for a reason. That it hurts when I'm not around you for a reason…"

I hesitantly lifted my hand and took her frigid hand in mine. The electricity was back, in full force, and it was amazing.

"That I feel this strange electricity when I touch you for a reason."

Finally, _finally,_ Bella lifted her chin and met my eyes. Christ, she was beautiful.

"You feel it too?"

_She speaks! And…wait. She feels it? It's not just me?_

I nodded quickly.

"Yes Bella, it's even in the air when I'm around you. Though I'd much rather feel it from your skin." I smiled at her, and she returned it, and I thought my heart might stop.

"Shit, you're beautiful."

She shyly looked away, and I knew she'd be blushing if she could. She didn't need to though – I was blushing enough for the both of us. _Freakin' brain filter! Where'd you fuck off to?_

"Please forgive me Bella. I don't want you to stay away from me. I don't want you to never come back. Please say you forgive me." I was practically begging but I didn't care

She met my eyes again with a searing gaze, like she was trying to look into my soul. Then she smiled, big and bright, and nodded.

"Yes, Edward. I forgive you. I was never mad at you. I understand why you did and said those things. I expected them. I _wanted _them."

I was going to ask what she meant by all that because it confused the hell out of me, but was interrupted by the return of Alice and Jasper.

"Jazz has been asking me some questions that I think would be better to answer with Isa, so Edward can hear too. Let's sit!"

She promptly plopped down onto the grass, and we all followed suit.

"Who's Isa?" I asked.

Alice giggled.

"She's Isa! I just call her that, her name is Isabella. But _you _can't call her that. Just me. I've copyrighted it."

Bella laughed, and we all joined in. Alice invited us to ask any questions we wanted.

Jesus, where should I begin?

"Ok, um…I feel like you guys are not like the…v-vampires we read about in books. So…"

"No, nothing like that at all actually," Bella answered. "Let's see…we _can _go out in the sun without bursting into flames, we just…" She glanced over at Alice, who smiled.

"It looks like we've been bedazzled. We'll show you sometime."

Jasper laughed, then we started firing off myths, just about all of which the girls squashed.

"Garlic?"

"No affect, except it smells gross."

"Holy water?"

"Just gets us wet when you throw it."

"Turn into bats?"

"Nope."

"Pointy teeth?"

"Sharp, but not pointy."

"Sleep in coffins?"

"Don't sleep at all."

"Wow," Jasper said, "Never?"

They both shook their heads. _Jesus, what do they do with all their free time?_

Bella spoke quietly, sadness in her voice.

"You forgot one."

I looked at Jazz, but couldn't think of anything we missed. Until it hit me…

"Do you…drink blood?"

Bella nodded sadly.

"Isa!" Alice yelled at her. "Don't leave out the important information!" She turned to us. "Look, I'm just going to be completely honest with you because that's how I am, and you have a right to know if you're…going to be around us from now on."

She took a deep breath, but was interrupted by the back door opening again. A tall blond man stepped out. He looked very familiar, but I couldn't place him right away.

"Girls, it's getting dark. Why don't you bring the boys inside to talk?"

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, the next chapter will be Bella and Alice's tale. Hope this was ok, I deleted and re-wrote and got angry and almost scrapped the whole thing and wrote:

"And then the wolves came and killed everyone.

Fin."

I'd appreciate feedback, this chapter has me sort of second-guessing myself…boo.


	11. Friends

**A/N**: Ok, rec for the week (I think I might try to keep up with doing this, I'm reading way too many awesome fics that you people need to know about if you don't already):

'**Sleepers, Awake: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme' **by **Feisty Y. Beden**. I can't even put into words how amazing and beautiful this story is. Trust me, push past the heartfail and utter mind-fuckery and stick with it, you won't be disappointed (at least, I wasn't).

This chapter is dedicated to **spellboundagain**, who gave me my 100th review. Thanks bb :)

**Disclaimer**: Stephenie Meyer owns any Twilight characters that may appear in this story. The remainder is my original work. Copyright 2009 by hexumhunnie311. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without my express written authorization.

**

* * *

Chapter 11: Friends **

**BPOV**

_Jesus Christ, they're actually here._

Once Al and I walked out into the yard, the boys froze completely. I was worried that they were afraid of us, but Alice determinedly strode forward, clearly not caring either way. I was glad she kept to a slow, human pace, because even though I was beyond happy to finally see Edward again, I was in no hurry to confront him.

I paused when we were close, but not too close, and Alice stopped next to me. I tentatively took a deep breath. Edward's potent scent was there, and the burn in my throat flared, but being outside definitely helped and I found that I was completely in control. I continued breathing deeply so I could become acclimated to his scent.

_I guess I'll talk first then Isa?_

Alice smirked before initiating conversation. Her eyes focused completely on Jasper even when she was being addressed by Edward. I, on the other hand, was having a staring contest with the ground. I couldn't bring myself to look at the hatred I knew I would see in Edward's eyes. So I was surprised, to say the least, when Jasper informed us that they had actually wanted to see us.

_Edward…wanted to see me? After what happened?_

My surprise only grew when I heard Jasper explain how they had found us.

_Isa! The pull! Wow, they feel it too!_

Alice's smile grew larger still as she stared at Jasper adoringly. I was suddenly drowning in a ocean of jealousy and sadness when I saw Jasper return the same look.

_I wish I Edward would look at me that way. I wish he didn't hate me._

I was snapped out of my musings, however, when Edward spoke up once more. He wanted to talk to me. Alone.

_Oh crap._

I took another deep breath, making sure I was in control, and nodded to myself. _I can do this._

Jasper and Alice went off to the far corner of the yard without another word. _Did they just…frolic? _

Edward, wasting no time, came to stand in front of me and immediately poured his heart out. His apology was so sweet and heartfelt, and took me so much by surprise, that I couldn't even flinch backward when he took my hand in his. The electricity was amazing, which he admitted to feeling as well; in fact, he felt everything that I did. I finally met his gaze, and nearly melted on the spot.

His emerald eyes held so much emotion – sadness and guilt, but also so much hope and a bit of something else that I couldn't identify. I couldn't stop myself from returning the breathtaking smile he gave me when our eyes locked.

He asked for my forgiveness for reacting the way he did. He actually wanted _me _to forgive _him_, when it should have been the other way around for so many reasons. I stared deeply into his eyes, willing his mind to open to me, just this once, so I could know what the hell he was thinking asking me that.

But as I looked at him I realized, at this moment, I didn't need to hear his thoughts to know what he was thinking or feeling. It was all right there, in his eyes, in that emotion I couldn't figure out before – complete and total adoration. And it was for me.

I smiled hugely at him, and nodded my forgiveness, though there was nothing to forgive. I told him as much, but before he could question it Jasper and Alice came back to us.

We spent the next few minutes sitting on the ground, being bombarded with questions by the boys. It was rather fun to dispel all the myths about us, though they clearly weren't asking the right question – what did we eat? I pointed this out, and Alice was furious. But before she could blurt it all out, we were interrupted by Carlisle, who actually wanted us to bring the _human_ boys into a house full of vampires.

_This should be interesting._

I looked at Carlisle questioningly, wondering what the hell he could be thinking. He answered as he turned back into the house.

_I'm concerned about the wolves Bella. They can't know the boys are here. You should bring them in before their scent spreads any further._

Shit. I'd completely forgotten about that minor detail. I turned to the boys, expecting them to run screaming when I told them what they'd be walking into.

"Ok, um. Before we move this little party inside, I should probably tell you that we're not the only…people…like us…that live in this house…" I cringed.

Jasper perked up. He almost looked excited. Edward was still looking curiously at the open back door.

"How many more?" Jasper asked.

I glanced at Alice, but knew we couldn't get out of telling them the truth.

"Four," she said confidently. "But don't worry, they're like us, they don't…ugh," she turned to me. "Lucy, we've got some 'splainin' to do."

The 'I Love Lucy' reference went completely over the boys' heads, and they looked at Alice strangely.

_Oops, I forgot how young they are…_

Jasper cleared his throat awkwardly, then stood up.

"Well, if they're like you, then I'm not worried. Let's go!" He marched off towards the house, Alice at his heels. Edward stood slowly and offered me his hand. I accepted, and he showed no signs of flinching at my cold skin as he pulled me gently to my feet, meeting my gaze and giving me another stunning smile.

_Oh…so pretty…_

Edward kept hold of my hand as we walked to the house. I felt like I was floating.

As we entered the house and made our way to the living room, however, I began to panic. What would Rose say? This was insane.

I had no chance to voice my concerns as Esme and Carlisle entered the room, followed by Rose and Emmett. All looked nervous. Alice spoke first.

"Jasper, Edward, these are the Cullens. They're vegetarians, like us."

Edward's mouth had dropped open in shock, and I couldn't help but notice how tightly he was squeezing my hand. I looked at him curiously.

"I'm Carlisle. Nice to meet you Jasper," Carlisle said. "And so nice to see you again, Edward." He smiled at the two of them.

"Dr….Cullen? You're a…a…" Edward stuttered.

_Oh crap. Carlisle was Edward's doctor when he got hurt. This could be awkward…_

Carlisle smiled again. "A vegetarian? Yes Edward, I am."

Jasper finally spoke up. "What do you mean, vegetarian? Don't you have to…drink blood? How can you survive on vegetables?"

Emmett's booming laughter echoed through the entire house.

"It means we don't eat humans, we drink from animals. That's why we have gold eyes. So, don't worry, you won't be…staying for dinner. I'm Emmett, by the way." He winked. Jasper smiled. They were instant friends.

Edward noticeably relaxed. I assumed he had been thinking of how he was at one time bleeding profusely in Carlisle's presence.

Emmett strode forward to shake the boys' hands, as did Esme.

"It's so nice to meet you both, we've heard a lot about you. Welcome to our home, I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife." She smiled sweetly, which they returned. They loved her already – it was impossible not to.

Rosalie cleared her throat.

_Are none of these bozos going to introduce me?_

Emmett, sensing Rose's annoyance, quickly grabbed her hand and brought her forward.

"And _this_ is my Rosie," he said happily.

Rosalie smacked him away angrily.

_I TOLD him that name is reserved for the bedroom…_

"It's Rosalie. Nice to meet you. Let's go Em." She grabbed his hand and walked upstairs, leaving Jasper staring after her. Alice smacked his arm, and he brought his attention back to her with a sheepish grin.

I glanced at Edward to see if he too was quite taken with Rose, only to find him watching me, smiling. He leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"I prefer brunettes."

I shivered.

"Well, I believe you were all about to have a chat. We'll leave you to do so, make yourselves at home boys." Carlisle nodded to Alice and me, then lead Esme upstairs.

_Be careful what you reveal to them Bella. We'll be listening in case you need us._

Carlisle winked and stepped out of sight. I turned and took a seat on the couch. I cautiously took a breath to make sure I was in control. The burn was far worse inside, but I could handle it. I smiled at Edward as he took the seat next to me.

"So," Jasper said as he rubbed his hands together, "tell us the whole story. From the beginning. How did you guys become…what you are? How did you meet? Why are you vegeta – "

"Jazz! Jesus, let them answer one question before you start another!" Edward laughed. It was like music.

"Well, I guess my story began first, so…I'll start," I said hesitantly. Did they really want to hear all this?

Alice nodded encouragingly. I took a deep breath, almost enjoying the burn because it meant Edward was close to me.

_Here goes nothing…_

"Ok…I was born in 1911. I – "

Jasper interrupted already. "1911? Really?! Wow that's like…the most extreme case of 'Cougar' ever…"

Edward shushed him. I continued.

"I was born, and lived, in Chicago my entire human life. When the stock market crashed, my family was completely ruined. We had lived in quite a nice home at the time, and were forced to foreclose and move into a poor, very unsafe neighbourhood.

"My father, Charlie," I smiled at his vague memory, "was determined to keep food on our table. He managed to get a job at a factory and, though he barely made any money, I was proud of him.

"We had no car, obviously, and so he had to walk through the dangerous streets to work. They paid more to work the night shift, so that's what he did. He always brought dinner to work with him, since he was there from 6pm to 8am."

I sighed. Reliving this story always made me sad. Edward squeezed my hand, willing me to go on. I took comfort from his presence.

"I had been 19 for a week on the night Charlie forgot his dinner. My mother, Renee…she was always so concerned about Charlie, but rarely thought of me. I was an accident, and she'd never cared for me. Not like Charlie did.

"Anyway, that night she asked me to take him his dinner, knowing I'd have to walk through the dark alleys by myself to get there. I agreed, though, because I was always so desperate to please her.

"I made it about halfway to the factory when I was grabbed from behind and dragged into the basement of an abandoned building. Whoever it was kept a tight, painful grip over my mouth so I couldn't make a sound. They tied me to a chair and gagged me."

Edward squeezed my hand tightly, anger in his face. It was sweet that he was concerned for me, but also very silly. This had all happened since even before his grandparents were born. What was done was done.

"His name was Riley. I recognized him almost immediately as a former employee of my father's who'd been fired about two years before the market crashed. He had had such pretty gray eyes. But now, they were crimson, and his skin was deathly pale. I knew something wasn't right with him, and I was terrified.

"He kept a menacing smile on his face the whole time. He…well, I'm thankful most of my memories of that night are rather fuzzy, because I know that he tortured me but don't remember how. I just remember pain."

Edward let out a long, slow breath and kept a firm grip on my hand. Had I not been a vampire, it would have been extremely painful.

"I had always been very much attuned to people's thoughts, and I could tell that this wasn't a random attack. Somehow, this was revenge. I had no idea what I did to this man, but he wasn't happy with me.

"Eventually, he told me why he was doing this to me. It seems that the night my father had fired him he'd gone to a local bar to drown his sorrows. There, he met a woman named Victoria, who seduced him and then changed him into what he was – a vampire.

"I began seriously doubting this man's sanity, but his skin, his eyes, his freezing touch and viciously strong grip…he wasn't human. He was telling me the truth. I knew then that he would kill me.

"He continued his tale, telling me how he blamed Charlie for his 'curse' as he called it. If he hadn't been fired, he wouldn't have gone to the bar that night. And he wanted revenge. He wanted to take away something Charlie loved. He was going to kill me.

"He bit me on the wrist and began drinking…I could feel myself dying, my heart slowing, my eyes drooping closed. But he suddenly stopped. He had thought of a better idea. He told me no, he wouldn't kill me. He'd change me to be like him, so they'd never find my body, and my family would never have any closure, and maybe, just maybe, I'd kill them myself."

I stretched my arm out to show the boys the faint silver scar on my wrist where Riley's teeth had cut me all those decades ago. Every other cut, bruise and broken bone had healed during my change, but this had stayed – a permanent reminder of his own sadistic form of justice. Edward touched it softly. I sighed and continued.

"The change took about three days. It was…excruciating. It's one of my most vivid memories. But finally I woke up, still tied to the chair in the basement. Riley was long gone. I was so confused, but my throat was burning intensely and I recognized the need to feed. A lovely scent hit me, and I tore myself from the chair and made it outside. What happened next shocked the hell out of me.

"I could hear the heartbeat and rushed, pounding steps of a man walking down the street. He smelled wonderful. I wanted his blood. And then, I heard something else. It was like a disembodied voice. It had no source; it was just in my head. And it was coming from the man walking toward me, where I hid in the shadows waiting to spring at him.

"It was my father. He was looking for me. His thoughts were so…terrified, and frantic, and guilt-ridden. He was blaming himself for my disappearance because he had forgotten his dinner. He had a flashlight and he was scouring the streets. The beam came close to landing on me…too close. The fire was raging in my throat, but I completely ignored it, knowing I couldn't stay here another second. I whispered, 'Goodbye, Daddy,' into the night, and took off running. My speed shocked me, but I didn't stop. I left Chicago altogether. I was too afraid that I'd hurt my family, whether by accident or because I lost control. I still have no idea what happened to them…"

I was nearly overwhelmed by emotion. I wished I could cry for a release. Luckily, Alice decided it was her turn.

"Ok, I want to talk now!"

Jasper laughed, and Edward snorted at her enthusiasm. She was always so good at breaking the tension. She giggled like a tinkling bell and picked up where I left off.

"So, Isa decided to only hunt bad people. She'd listen to their thoughts and find out what kind of people they were. She was pretty good at weeding out the nasties. Then eleven years later, her life changed forever," she said with Oscar-worthy dramatics. I couldn't help but notice the boys both flinched when she told them I had hunted people.

"She was in Mississippi, sitting in a bar, listening to the thoughts around her to find someone, well, evil. I knew she'd be there. So I found her and popped up next to her – "

I had to cut in here. "And she yelled '_There_ you are!' and hugged me tightly." I laughed at the memory.

"Yeah! And we've been together ever since! And don't expect me to dish out what happened to make me this way, because I have no idea. I just remember waking up, alone, it was 1939…I didn't even really know what I was. But I had a vision of Isa as soon as I opened my eyes, so I made it my mission to find her. Everything before I changed is a complete blank.

"And, you might as well know…I hunted humans too, any humans. But the visions I would get when I decided to…feed on someone – of their families, devastated and mourning and…well, I quickly went down the same path as Isa and sought out the baddies. Recently though, we sort of had…an epiphany. We were sick being monsters, we were sick of hurting people, we wanted something different, we wanted a change.

"And we got it, because one day we were pulled here. We met the Cullens and converted to their diet. We met you both. And now here we are."

She finished with a huge smile for Jasper. The boys, on the other hand, looked quite stunned.

"So…" Edward started, "you used to kill humans. But now you don't."

"Yup," Alice said, popping the 'p'.

"And…" Jasper began, "Bella can read minds, and Alice can see the future."

I nodded. Edward suddenly looked horrified, as though he hadn't realized my mind-reading ability from the story.

_Ha! I bet Edward has been having dirty thoughts and she knows all about them! Oh, shit, that means she probably heard everything I thought of Alice…_

I smiled at Jasper, but turned to Edward.

"I can't read yours, Edward," I said quietly. He looked at me in shock. "I don't have any idea why. You're the first person this has ever happened with. It's…frustrating, and yet…such a relief."

He immediately understood. "It must be horrible having to constantly hear other's thoughts, and not be able to turn it off. Especially when they're…X-rated?"

I nodded, laughing. He got it. I loved him more for it.

"What about you Alice? Can you see his future?" Jasper asked.

I shot Alice a look, warning her to not divulge the visions she'd had of Edward and Jasper's futures. Not yet. It was too soon for that.

_My lips are sealed for now Isa. Don't want to overwhelm them._

"Yup, I can see both of you. But my visions are completely based on decisions, so they can change at any time."

They nodded slowly. Even without Al's visions of their future, they were already overwhelmed. I regretted telling them all of this. All in one day they'd found us, our new house, the Cullens, and been told that we'd been alive since the early 1900s, used to kill humans, and had magical powers. I counted the seconds until they ran screaming for the door.

"Can we see the rest of the house?" Edward asked.

_Huh?_

"Oh…really? I mean…sure, yeah, follow me…" I stuttered out.

I stood to leave the room, but talk of Alice's visions suddenly had me thinking. I let Edward and Jasper walk in front of me when I pulled Alice to my side on the way to the stairs. I whispered too low for them to hear.

"Al, what happened with your visions when the wolves were here? Why didn't you see them coming?"

She shrugged. "I went completely blank when they were near us, I couldn't see anything. And as soon as they left the property, the vision of the boys in the backyard hit me like a ton of bricks; like it had been trying to get through the whole time…it was so weird."

She shrugged again and ran to catch up with the boys. Jasper and Alice ascended the stairs together. Edward waited for me at the bottom, his hand outstretched for me to hold.

I clasped it tightly, wondering what Carlisle thought about this new development. But soon, Edward had my full attention.

**

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A/N**: Yes, it's sort of short, sorry. Yes, it's all BPOV, sorry. EPOV for this is next chapter, so no worries :). And no, Bella wasn't raped by Riley. This story is rated T, so I just wasn't going to go into any detail.


	12. Lovers

**A/N: **Sorry for the epic wait, RL reared its ugly head this last week or two (or three. Or…month. Yeah…), and I actually had to do some work on my Master's project and write/hand in a giant literature review. I know, WTF right? How rude. I have a fic to write.

Anyway, **Sleepers, Awake by Feisty Y. Beden **(the fic I recced last time and has since completely owned me) is now complete. No better time to read it. Bring your hanky(ies). Link under my favs.

Rec of the week: **'Flaming Desire' by Mamma4ever**. Two words: _Hot. Firemen_. Need I say more? I didn't think so. She even has an original character. His name is Dick. He's my favourite, and he will be yours too. Link also under my favs.

A little warning, I just recently wrote a one-shot in present tense, and it's oddly difficult to get out of that once you've done it. So I apologize if I accidentally switch tenses at any part. You can check out my o/s on my profile, it's for the Slash Backslash Contest (please?).

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Twilight or its characters. But I DO own this little tale.

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**Chapter 12: Lovers**

**EPOV**

_Ok, I'm walking into a house full of vampires…_

There were several severely fucked up things about this situation. The one that came to mind first was that I was doing so willingly. Still stunned from Bella's immediate forgiveness and blunt honesty about her…situation, I didn't even have time to consider what I was doing.

And so there I was, on the doorstep, about to walk in the back door. And I wasn't even a little bit frightened. Mainly because I was with Bella, and I had her cold hand in mine.

It's a strange feeling for the mere presence of someone to completely pacify you. All these years, I thought that was the way things were with Jazz. And they were – and still are – to a certain extent.

But this thing with Bella was so different, so new…so amazing.

When we entered the living room, we were met with four more…people like Bella and Alice.

_Can't even say the word inside your head? Pansy…_

I was nervous, but not for obvious reasons. Sure, they could kill me. But more than that, this was Bella's adopted family, and oddly enough I wanted their approval.

_Jesus, it's like I'm meeting the parents of my new girlfriend…is that what she is? Is that what _this _is?_

We were introduced, and I did a double take followed by an embarrassing but uncontrollable jaw-drop.

_Dr. Cullen?!_

My doctor…the man who stitched me up…who washed my _bloody _elbow…was a…a…

_A fucking vampire?!_

After the large bear of a man, Emmett, explained their dietary restrictions to us, I definitely relaxed. And Carlisle's wife had this sweetness about her that put me completely at ease. The blonde girl, Rosalie, did not seem thrilled with our presence, and left the room after a hurried introduction without a backward glance. I saw that Jasper couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. She, admittedly, was extremely attractive, but I just smiled to myself and looked over to take in the sight of Bella again. She was extraordinary.

I saw her snicker at Alice's attempt to regain Jasper's attention, and then promptly glance over to me. She seemed surprise to find me watching her and not drooling over Rosalie. I decided to reassure her.

"I prefer brunettes," I whispered into her ear. I saw her shudder at my words and smiled, a little proud of myself.

Carlisle and Esme took their leave, and just like that we were left to ourselves in the enormous living room.

_Man, this 'live forever' deal must give you plenty of time to earn buttloads of money…_

We took seats on the couch and, after having to shut Jazz up a few times so they could actually talk, we heard the story of how the girls were changed, and how they met.

_Bella was born in 1911…Jesus, she's almost 100 years old…_

Her entire story made me angry. I frequently squeezed her hand to show her my concern, though I knew there wasn't a damn thing I could do about any of it.

Bella showed us her scar, the only reminder of her change and her long-extinguished human life. My hand moved of its own volition, tracing the silver crescent on her wrist and eliciting a sigh from Bella when my skin touched hers.

When she told us what Riley had done to her, and the pain she'd been in during her change, I wanted to rip out his throat. How dare he touch her, how dare he cause her pain?

It also made me think about the change itself.

_Why was it so painful? What did it feel like? And…why did I care so much?_

Bella finished her tale and Alice picked it up. The rest of their story stunned me.

_Alice can see the future? How is that even possible?_

_And…fuck, they killed people?_

Even though the last thought was momentarily chilling, at the same time I couldn't bring myself to care. They made the valiant effort to change their ways, and that's what mattered now.

Then Jazz mentioned that Bella could read minds.

_Bella could read minds? Shit, how had I missed that part? Oh Christ, was she reading mine right now? Had she been the whole time? What do I do about this? Um…hi Bella. Can you…can you hear me? This is ridiculous, I must sound like a blithering idiot…_

My rambling thoughts were cut off abruptly when Bella admitted that she couldn't hear me. That it was frustrating and a respite at the same time, but she had no idea why I was an exception to her ability.

I let out a long sigh of gratitude, but understood why it would be a relief to be deaf to at least one person's mind. How overwhelming it must be to be constantly bombarded with the secret thoughts, desires, and fantasies of others…_yikes._

I thanked whoever could hear me that she was deaf to my thoughts.

In an effort to change the subject to something less intense, I asked to see the rest of the house. I made sure to hold Bella's hand once more, constantly desperate for any sort of contact with her. The feeling of her skin on mine was euphoric, and I craved it like a drug.

She guided me up to the second floor, pointing out an open door that led to Carlisle's office. I quickly ducked my head inside, noting that he wasn't there, and was completely shocked at what I saw.

Books upon books, housed on shelves upon shelves, took up three of the walls from floor to ceiling. Every inch of shelf space was taken up by hundreds of volumes – some large, some slim, some new, some ancient and nearly crumbling.

I turned my shocked gaze to Bella, who merely looked amused.

"These must have taken decades to collect. Centuries even! Some of these books look hundreds of years old – "

"It did and they are," she said honestly. "Carlisle is well over 300."

She pointed to the final wall that was covered, not with books, but with paintings and tapestries that looked as old as some of the weathered volumes. There were people in them, strange looking and ancient, and I thought I saw someone who looked like Carlisle in what had to be the oldest print.

"That wall is, essentially, Carlisle's history. He hasn't told me the story yet, though, just that there are bits and pieces of his life all over this house."

Apparently my jaw was still hanging open when I turned back to Bella, because she sort of snickered and placed one cool, slender index finger under my chin to close my mouth. I took the chance to grab her hand and entwine my fingers with hers once more. She tugged me gently in the direction of another staircase, leading to the third floor.

"Sorry, this is all just…a lot to take. I mean, Dr. Cullen…_my _doctor…has been on Earth for more than three centuries…"

I shook my head as the thought continued to baffle me. Bella gave my hand a squeeze and looked at me sadly while leading me through an open door at the end of the hall.

"I'm very surprised by how well you're taking all of this, Edward."

I had to laugh.

"Bella, have you already forgotten my first reaction?"

This time she laughed.

"Ok, ok. But besides your little…freak out, which I still say was warranted…"

I shot her a look that said _Don't, I was wrong, let's move on_. She sighed, but continued.

"You've only known what we are for a few days, and yet you willingly enter a house full of more of us, and you're told these stories that must seem utterly insane to you, and – "

I stopped in the center of the room and hushed her with my finger against her lips. I couldn't help but notice their hard, smooth texture, like polished marble. I immediately thought of what they would feel like against my own, but quickly snapped out of it. There would be a time for that later…I hoped.

"I've had a week to get used to the idea. Well, I guess there really is no 'getting used' to the idea, since I grew up thinking vampires only existed in stories by Stephen King and movies about Dracula and Nosferatu. But I've accepted that it's the truth. And I mean, you _did_ save my life. What sort of damsel in distress would I be if I wasn't grateful to my rescuer?"

I realized what I'd called myself and quickly cleared my throat and made my voice a bit deeper.

"I mean, you know, whatever the manly version of 'damsel' is…um…anyway…"

She laughed, and the sound made my heart clench. I gazed into her eyes again, no longer disturbed by the strange crimson colour which was now tinged with amber.

"Besides, it doesn't matter to me what you are. Now that I've found you, I don't plan on letting you go. It's almost…painful to be away from you," I paused, noting the stunned look on her face. "I hope that doesn't, you know, freak you out. I know I've only known you a few days but – "

This time, she silenced me. But she didn't do it with her cool, slender finger.

No, she silenced me with her cool, marble lips on mine.

She'd moved so quickly I didn't even have time to close my mouth, and suddenly my bottom lip was trapped between hers and she was kissing me, firmly but gently. She didn't move her mouth at all, didn't use her tongue, didn't even breathe. She just held my lip in place with her own. I closed my eyes and held just as still.

It was _devine_.

I knew, at that moment, that I would never experience a kiss like this again with anyone else. I also knew that I didn't want to. I wanted to kiss Bella everyday for the rest of my life. I wouldn't care if it was still, chaste kisses each and every time, as long as it was Bella, and as long as it made me feel like this. I felt electrified, like smoke should be coming out of my ears and my hair should be standing more on end than usual and my heart should be visibly thumping out of my chest, like a scene straight out of an old cartoon.

I started to bring my hands up, needing to tangle them in her silky chestnut locks, but suddenly it was as though she'd only just noticed what she was doing. She quickly pulled away with a gasp and I opened my eyes to see her far across the room, covering her mouth with her hand. I felt empty at the loss.

"Edward I – shit. I'm sorry, that was so inappropriate, I didn't even ask if it was ok and – shit. I didn't, I mean, I didn't hurt you, did I?"

I put my hands up in front of me to stop her.

"Bella, no! No, you didn't hurt me! Of course not. And, don't, please don't apologize, because that was…possibly the single greatest kiss I've ever had in my life. You never have to ask. Please, don't ever ask."

I walked towards her, hoping she wouldn't move away, and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her to my chest in the hope of calming her. It worked. Though she seemed to be holding her breath again, I felt her tension ease under my grip. She slowly and hesitantly wrapped her arms around my waste and held me lightly. I knew she was thinking that she didn't want to hurt me. So I squeezed her, knowing she'd barely feel it, that my strength was nothing compared to hers. I squeezed her so she'd know I wasn't upset, so she'd know how much I'd enjoyed the kiss, and so she'd know just how much she was starting to mean to me. I buried my face in her hair and just inhaled her essence.

She stepped back after a few minutes and I let her, not wanting her to be overwhelmed.

"Bella."

She kept her eyes to the floor.

"Bella, please look at me."

She slowly lifted her gaze to meet mine. I could see the confusion and turmoil in her eyes. I had no idea how to get rid of it.

"Promise me you'll never ask for permission."

I smirked at her, hoping she'd see I was trying to lighten the mood. I watched as her eyes widened and unfocused briefly. Then one corner of her mouth pulled up, and she nodded.

"I won't ask Edward. I promise."

I nodded, hoping this meant she would kiss me often and not hesitate. Then I realized we'd been standing in a room for a while now and I had no idea what it was. I took in my surroundings and was speechless.

"Wow…Bella, is this…is this _your _room?"

She nodded.

It was an amazing space. Enormous. Walls lined with shelves that just cried out to be filled with literature and music. Beautiful antique furniture. A long black leather couch.

But the most amazing part was the back wall, which was made entirely of glass. It looked straight out into the back yard and the forest and river beyond. I walked over and stood in front of it, admiring the view.

"Man, I would love a room like this…"

I turned back to see that Bella had seated herself on the edge of the bed and was staring at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. I took the spot next to her, the movement of the bed jostling her from her musings.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked with a smirk.

She looked up at me and her eyes were sad again.

"I need to tell you something, Edward. And…and I think once I tell you, you'll finally run screaming. You _should_ run screaming…but I need to be honest. You need to know what you're getting yourself involved in if…if you want to be involved with me."

Her shoulders slumped and she focused on the floor again. I grabbed her hand and held it tightly, encouraging her to continue, and scared shitless about what she might say.

"Edward, I'm sure you've figured out by now that vampires have heightened senses. We see, hear, taste, and…smell things much differently than humans. Obviously, you must know that humans smell very appetizing to us…while human food is simply repulsive."

I nodded, having assumed most of it already. _Where was she going with this?_

"The other day, Emmett told me something interesting that I'd never heard of before. It seems that most, if not all vampires have something called a _la tua cantante_. It means 'singer'. In other words, it's a human whose blood smells…even sweeter, even more amazing to one specific vampire than any other human does. The blood 'sings' to them, if that makes sense. It's said to be nearly impossible to resist…taking them…once you encounter your singer."

She paused again. I had a bad feeling I knew what she was getting at. She still wouldn't meet my gaze when she continued.

"Edward…the first time I ever encountered your scent, it was that first night you saw me on the balcony. Alice and I had followed the pull to the woods behind your apartment and…your scent came down from your balcony and…it hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd never felt anything, never smelled anything like that in my entire existence. Alice had to physically restrain me, and I completely lost the ability of coherent thought. Edward, what I'm trying to say…is…"

"I'm your singer."

I said it with no emotion, not sure how to feel one way or the other. I saw her nod slowly, sadly. I let out a long, slow breath and tried to gather my thoughts.

So, Bella was attracted to the smell of my blood more than any other human she'd ever met. She was currently trying to wean herself of the human diet and onto the vegetarian diet. And I wanted to be near to her all the time. Suddenly, several things clicked into place.

"This is why you are always hesitant to be near me. Why you always seem to hold your breath when I'm close."

She nodded again.

"I understand if you want to run away, Edward. I wouldn't blame you. In fact, it's the safer option, and…and I wish you would."

I grabbed her chin gently and forced her to meet my eyes.

"Do you really wish that I'd leave, Bella? Or are you just worried about your restraint?"

I had to know. I had to know if she felt the same way I did, or if my presence was of no consequence. If she truly wanted me gone, I would be. But if not…there was no way I could leave her alone.

She looked at me sadly again, but didn't drop her gaze.

"I…I don't want you to leave. Ever. But sometimes I think it would be easier for both of us if I left. You're only ever in danger around me, Edward, don't you see that? I…ok, I'll admit that the more I'm around you, the easier it is to stay in control. It's like I'm becoming accustomed to your fragrance. But every time I'm away from you, and I lose your scent, it's like that first night all over again when I smell it the next time. I don't – "

"Bella, how do you feel about dirty socks?"

She looked at me like I was insane, but the truth was I had gotten an idea that could make things easier for her. I'd try anything, since I had no intention of leaving her. I took off one of my shoes and removed my sock, then handed it to her.

"I figure, I've been walking around in it all day, so it must, well, reek of me. Maybe if you kept this around you, it would help you stay accustomed to how I smell. Um, and I promise next time I see you, you can have a shirt I wore the day before or something, because, well, this is sort of gross."

She laughed, but held the sock tightly in her fist and looked thoughtful. I could tell she liked my plan, and was willing to try it. She sighed, then laid the sock next to her pillow and reclined back onto the bed, resting on her elbows.

"Tell me about yourself Edward. I feel like I know nothing about you, but you know all about me."

I smiled, glad that we had left the intense conversation behind us for now, and mimicked her position.

We talked for hours about anything and everything. I told her about living in the group home, and how I met Jasper, what our childhood was like. I told her about my parents and how they died, and how close I had come to dying with them. I told her about music, how passionate I was about it, and how I hoped to become a composer and wished I had space for a piano.

She told me more about her travels with Alice, skipping over their meal times. She told me the little she could remember about being human, mostly about her father and how much she cared for him, how she wished she knew how the rest of his life had been. When I asked, she hesitated, but told me what it truly felt like during the change from human to vampire, how it felt like you were burning from the inside out. She told me how it felt to be 'thirsty', that it was totally different to the thirst you feel as a human.

I could see in her eyes that with every new revelation, she expected me to bolt for the door. _Why wasn't I?_ Logic was screaming at me to run, but other feelings were screaming at me to never leave her side again. What did this all mean? Was I seriously considering…becoming like her?

This would need to be pondered at a later date. For now, I needed to focus on this stunning woman in front of me.

Neither of us noticed the late hour until someone quietly knocked on the door. Bella must have heard their thoughts because she quietly murmured, "Come in, Al," and none other than Alice slowly opened the door and came into the room with Jazz at her heels. She seemed rather subdued, and even in the few hours I'd known her I could tell this was not normal Alice.

"Wow, it _is _late, I didn't even realize."

I looked at Bella, who'd spoken like she was commenting on something that was said, even though no one was talking. I realized Alice must be communicating with her through her thoughts. I briefly wished I could do that with Bella, that we could have secret conversations that no one would hear besides us. Jasper shot me an amused look.

"Edward, you guys…we need to take you home, it's not…um, it's not really safe for you two to stay here, you know, overnight."

I was confused by this, but relented. I was exhausted, and even though I didn't want to leave Bella, I was filled to the brim with hope that I'd see her very soon. I followed her back down to the first floor with Alice and Jasper behind me. I'd have to ask what they got up to when we were back in the seclusion of our apartment. I got the weird feeling that nothing was private in this house.

We went out through the back door and into the yard. I waited for Bella to stop so we could say goodbye, but she continued on to the edge of the forest.

"Bella, what – "

"I said _we're _taking you home, Edward. The woods aren't safe at night, we're not the only things out there that you should be afraid of."

I shuddered involuntarily, hoping Bella would further explain that at some point. Then I nodded, all too happy to spend more time with her, and started walking into the woods. However, her hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder, preventing me from moving forward. I looked down at her curiously.

"What? I thought we were going home. Why are you stopping?"

Bella smirked at me in a mischievous way.

"It's quicker if we run, you know."

And with that, she grabbed me and slung me onto her back, then took off running through the woods.

* * *

**A/N: **I sort of wanted to punch this chapter in the throat, sorry if it's not up to par. And it's short! I know, I just wanted to get it out ASAP. So whatchu think? Too soon for a kiss? It was just a little one…thoughts?


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